ITA – Lufthansa, EU Approval Expected “Soon”

Negotiations to acquire Italian flagship airliner ITA Airways by Germany’s Lufthansa are “at an advanced stage.”

Negotiations have been ongoing for several months and are considered vital for the future of the company. As a replacement for the old Alitalia, it was founded in 2020 and owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. ITA’s majority shares are up for sale since 2022. For more than a year, the MSC Group, Air France – KLM, Delta Air Lines, and the Certares investment fund have expressed interest. An agreement was reached between the ministry and Lufthansa in May 2023, but approval from the European Commission is still needed to close the deal.

The delay to the agreement has caused some concern and controversy, but in the last few hours there has been reassurance from a Lufthansa spokesman who, according to a report by Italian news agency ANSA, explained that the process of formally notifying the deal was at an advanced stage.

Italian Production Minister Adolfo Urso explained that it would be absurd for the European Union to slow down the merger of the two carriers. “The European Commission has been demanding and entrusting Italy for many years to solve the problem of Alitalia, now ITA,” Urso explained, according to Radiocor. “This government has done it in the best possible way with such an important industrial strategic partner as Lufthansa. We expect the Commission to praise us for doing what other governments have failed to do.”