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Lufthansa wants to buy Italy's state airline ITA: added value or more chaos for customers?

2023-02-01T14:05:46.033Z


Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, is about to swallow up its Italian competitor ITA. For air travelers, this means some advantages and disadvantages.


Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, is about to swallow up its Italian competitor ITA.

For air travelers, this means some advantages and disadvantages.

So far, it has mainly been a topic for experts in the aviation industry: Lufthansa wants to take over ITA, the successor to the Italian state airline Alitalia.

Negotiations are well advanced, and signing the contract is apparently only a matter of time.

Lufthansa hopes that this will result in an expansion of its route network and better utilization of the aircraft – i.e. higher profits.

Lufthansa buys Italy's state airline ITA: added value or more chaos for customers?

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Soon probably in a group: aircraft from ITA and Lufthansa, here in Rome Fiumicino.

© Joeran Steinsiek/Imago

But as soon as the takeover is complete, it will also affect passengers who are traveling in the route network of Lufthansa, ITA or another partner of the Star Alliance network - or who are looking for suitable flights for their trip.

But what exactly will change for customers?

Lufthansa buys Italy's state airline ITA: The expected advantages and disadvantages for passengers

It is already foreseeable that there will be both advantages and disadvantages of the Lufthansa-ITA deal for air travelers.

These are the advantages:

  • Better connections:

    Germans who want to fly to an Italian city (or vice versa), or via Italy to South America, will probably find coordinated flight times when changing: for example via Munich or Rome, which will probably be expanded into a new LH hub.

  • More direct flights:

    There will probably be more non-stop connections between German and Italian cities that are not called Frankfurt, Munich or Rome.

  • Inexpensive flights to South America:

    ITA traditionally offers many connections to Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries.

    If these are better utilized and served more efficiently, the Lufthansa/ITA team could take up the price war against low-cost airlines there.

  • Greater planning security

    for flights to and from Italy: If Lufthansa flights to the south are canceled due to a strike or technical problems, there are better chances of a replacement flight with ITA - and vice versa.

  • More miles for collectors:

    Participants in Lufthansa's Miles&More program will soon also receive miles for ITA flights or be able to use them to pay for ITA flights.

Frankfurt Airport in pictures: The hub to the world

Frankfurt Airport in pictures: The hub to the world

On the other hand, these disadvantages and problems are to be expected:

  • More chaos when booking:

    The Lufthansa Group is getting bogged down with its numerous subsidiaries and brands, some of which customers can hardly tell apart.

    Example Eurowings and Eurowings Discover: The first is a low-cost airline with little service, the second is a well-kept holiday airline that Lufthansa manages itself and offers wealthy long-haul passengers a fully-fledged business class with real reclining seats.

    But some passengers find themselves in the wrong terminal in Munich, for example, because they mix up the names.

    There is also no central booking system that includes all airlines in the LH Group.

    Another airline further reduces the overview.

  • More opaque codeshare flights:

    Anyone who books a flight with an LH number can no longer rely on the fact that they are actually flying with the largest German airline - it is possible that another company in the Star Alliance group will be operating the flight.

    With ITA, this code sharing will expand massively, especially for sun targets.

    Many who supposedly booked Lufthansa will find themselves on the ITA plane without being asked.

  • Flights to Italy are becoming more expensive for Germans and flights

    to Germany for Italians: With ITA, Lufthansa is taking on a competitor with whom it also competed in terms of price.

    A price corrective for connections between Central and Southern Europe is thus eliminated.

    In general, Lufthansa has already increased its prices.

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The integration will not be easy for Lufthansa either.

With ITA, another airline lands under the umbrella of the group, with a proud staff who are just as willing to go on strike as their own.

Due to different collective agreements and operational procedures, not even employees at the other airline can step in when there is a need.

List of rubrics: © Joeran Steinsiek/Imago

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-02-01

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