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Frankfurt Airport: Lufthansa submits bid for Italian state airline ITA

2023-05-25T15:51:47.604Z

Highlights: Lufthansa acquires a minority stake in the airline ITA. The legendary name "Alitalia" could come back under the new corporate umbrella. The deal is subject to competition law reviews at national and European level. Ita posted a net loss of 1 million euros on sales of just under 6.486 billion euros last year. For 2027, 94 aircraft and a turnover of 4.1 billion euros are now targeted. The German group had already sought a takeover of ITA at the beginning of the year.



Lufthansa acquires a minority stake in the airline ITA. The legendary name "Alitalia" could come back under the new corporate umbrella.

Update from Thursday, May 25, 17:20 p.m.: After months of negotiations with the Italian state, Frankfurt-based Lufthansa has acquired a stake in the airline Ita Airways. For an initial 40 percent of the shares, the German MDax group is to pay between 320 and 330 million euros into the company's equity, the media had already reported in advance. In the afternoon, both sides confirmed the agreement in principle in Rome, without initially giving any figures.

According to the reports, a further 500 million euros will flow for a further 50 to 55 percent of the shares after the planned return to profitability. The Italian state would thus remain on board for the time being - contrary to what was initially planned by Lufthansa. The deal is subject to competition law reviews at national and European level.

Will "Alitalia" from Frankfurt be revived?

Italia Trasporto Aereo (Ita), founded in 2020, took over the flight operations of its insolvent predecessor Alitalia in October 2021, but is not its legal successor. However, Ita has secured take-off and landing rights as well as the Alitalia brand. The legendary name could possibly soon be reactivated under the new corporate umbrella.

ITA and Lufthansa planes are parked on the apron of Rome Fiumicino Airport. © Joeran Steinsiek/Imago

Last year, Ita posted a net loss of 1 million euros on sales of just under 6.486 billion euros. At the end of March, the company cited the aftermath of the Corona pandemic, increased fuel costs as a result of the Ukraine war and the poor euro-dollar exchange rate as the reason for the red figures.

For 2027, 94 aircraft and a turnover of 4.1 billion euros are now targeted. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr spoke of a win-win situation for Italy, Ita and his company. He wants to bring the lean Alitalia successor with its young fleet into the profit zone through higher capacity utilization, cheaper purchasing and better flight coordination.

Frankfurt Airport: Lufthansa submits bid for ITA Airways

Update from Sunday, January 22, 2023, 13:40 p.m.: Lufthansa is seeking a stake in the Italian state airline ITA Airways (see initial announcement of 3 December). Initially, a minority stake will be acquired and options to purchase the remaining shares will be agreed at a later date, Lufthansa announced on Wednesday (18 January).

In the meantime, the group has submitted a corresponding offer in the form of a letter of intent to the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. In the event of a mutual signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, further negotiations and talks would be conducted exclusively. If the contract were to be concluded, the takeover would be subject to approval by the competent authorities.

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Frankfurt Airport: Lufthansa about to join the Italian state airline ITA

First report from Sunday, December 3, 2023, 19:30 p.m.: Frankfurt/Rome – ITA Airways and Lufthansa are still in good negotiations about a possible imminent entry of the Germans into the Italian state airline, according to information from Rome. The successor to the long-established company Alitalia announced on Saturday (3 December): "ITA Airways continues the positive and constructive talks with Lufthansa." The airline, based at Frankfurt Airport, has been chosen as a possible partner by the Italian Ministry of Finance – the current owner of ITA – "with the sole aim of achieving a profitable development of the company," it added.

ITA Airways continues its positive and constructive discussions with Lufthansa.

Announcement from ITA Airways

Lufthansa had already sought a takeover of ITA at the beginning of the year in a partnership with the shipping company MSC. After months of negotiations, however, the government of former Prime Minister Mario Draghi initially decided on the offer of the US fund Certares. However, further talks with the Americans failed in the fall, so that Lufthansa – from now on without MSC – regained insight into the books of ITA Airways.

Frankfurt Airport: Lufthansa pushes ahead with acquisition of ITA Airways

According to media reports, managers of the crane airline were in Rome for formal talks last week. According to reports, a central topic of the negotiations is how many shares of ITA could go to Lufthansa and what say Rome will have in the future. The right-wing nationalist government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is likely to be striving to keep its influence as great as possible for ideological reasons.

ITA Airways also announced on Saturday (3 December) its plans for the next few months, in which, among other things, 1200 new employees – such as pilots and flight attendants – are to be hired. In addition, the fleet is to be expanded from the current 65 aircraft to 104; According to the plan, nine long-haul aircraft will be added next year. In this regard, the airline spoke of "excellent results" despite the difficult international situation, for example due to the Ukraine war. (cas/dpa)

Many airlines have raised their prices extremely. Lufthansa tickets for the summer are also up to 40 percent more expensive. This has strong implications.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-05-25

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