Italy is still trying to get the green light from the EU to combine the national airline and Germany’s Lufthansa

Will Italian airlines Ita and German Lufthansa finally get married? Discussions continue between the two firms, the Italian government and the European Commission.

The starting point of this story is a national trauma: the bankruptcy of Alitalia, a company born after the war in Italy and which closed its doors in 2021. It was the result of two phenomena: years of accumulated losses – more than 11 billion euros between 2000 and 2020 – and an endless economic soap opera between aborted alliances, failed privatizations, takeover envisaged by employees. No lasting solution had emerged and then the second phenomenon: Covid, which had grounded the planes. Alitalia had not recovered.

The Italian government had no choice but to pay off the debts and nationalize the company, which became Ita Airways, 100% public, therefore. Cobalt blue planes which transported 15 million passengers last year, turnover up sharply – but after the Covid years, this was expected. The company remains medium-sized: around a hundred aircraft, compared to, for example, more than 200 at Air France. The leading airline in Italy is Ryanair, as in Europe.

Difficult negotiations with Brussels

The idea of ​​a marriage with the German Lufthansa would allow the two companies to spread their wings more widely, and for the Italian State, the second largest debt of the European Union behind Greece, it is not superfluous to recover money. The idea would therefore be for Lufthansa to take at least 41% of Ita’s capital. The wedding plan was announced a year ago.

Since then, another soap opera has begun with the European Commission, which is very careful about compliance with anti-competition rules. It is indeed a subject of tension between Rome and Brussels. The new group is asked to give up certain slots, these take-off and landing slots at airports, in particular at Milan-Linate and Rome-Fiumicino; and to give up certain connections so as not to be in a dominant position, between Italy and Germany or North America. Lufthansa made a new set of proposals in Brussels this week. Response June 13, in principle. The outcome remains uncertain.