Ita Airways, a new industrial project is coming up. Now final negotiations with Lufthansa-Corriere.it

Negotiations between the Treasury and Lufthansa on Ita Airways are in full swing. Between the end of next week and the beginning of the following week, two industrial projects of the Italian company for the period 2023-2027 – one drawn up by Tricolor Carrier, the other by the German company. The mediation document will culminate in a preliminary agreement, which will be signed in the second half of March, barring any obstacles, and which aims to bring Cologne’s giant minority (40%). They say Courier Government sources. This illustrates that there is not much time to lose and that Lufthansa is the last option to give the company a future.

Challenges

Experts point out that Lufthansa’s goal is almost miraculous: to make profitable an airline that, in its former life, Alitalia, was almost unprofitable. But they recalled that with this move the Germans would invest in the Italian market worth 19 billion euros (in 2019), they could resurface a historic brand (Alitalia) and use Rome Fiumicino as a hub. For the Southern Hemisphere. With Linate and Malpensa, the group will expand its presence in a region that “reaches” 19.5 million people and a GDP of 737 billion euros within a two-hour drive from the airports.

Trade agreements

In recent days, ambassadors from Lufthansa were among others at Ita’s headquarters Expert sessions. There is a need to organize the operation of the “interregnum” period, which falls during the period when the sector registers the greatest profit: the summer season (end of March to end of October). French-American sources al Courier Delta Air Lines and Air France-GLM have announced to Ita that they are ending the collaboration that brings 270 million euros in revenue to the tricolor carrier’s coffers. This is why you can hide it by signing with an Italian company Special Prorate Agreement United Airlines and “saved” 200 million.

Europe

Sources from the EU Competition Directorate-General explain al Courier An informal discussion with Italians and Germans has been initiated on the document. The offices headed by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager should issue permits in the second half of July and early August. The real business plan will take into account the amendments from Brussels, which is almost certain, regarding the launch of some locations in Fiumicino, Linate and Frankfurt. It was at that point that Lufthansa began managing Ita, with the aim of immediately reducing losses through commercial and industrial consolidations.

Floors

The Germans want to make Rome Fiumicino the group’s fifth hub – along with Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna – to fly Ita to Africa and expand it to North and South America. The latter has come to light again with the decision of Iag (British Airways and Iberia Holding) to acquire all of Air Europa in that part of the world – taking the other 80% for 400 million. Air France-Klm’s offer for Tap Portugal is expected in the coming weeks.

alliances

Not only that. Once partnered with Lufthansa, Ita was to transition to Star Alliance, one of the three maxi alliances in the sky (the others being SkyTeam, where the Italian company is located today, and Oneworld). But it will take a few months. The biggest benefits on the North Atlantic are expected from Ita’s entry into «A++», Lufthansa’s transatlantic joint venture with United and Air Canada. The outlook for the U.S. Department of Transportation, in particular, may not arrive before the summer of 2024. A joint venture is a commercial agreement favored by carriers because it allows them to plan routes, frequencies, and schedules together. Fees, managing clients and sharing expenses, revenues and profits, each to their own share.

opportunities

It should be noted that the war in Ukraine is forcing a halt to flows between North America and India (a growing market) in Europe, as it closes airspace to Western countries and prevents US and Canadian carriers from flying over Russia. That’s why Ita – operated by Lufthansa – should try to capture some of that traffic, taking them to Fiumicino earlier, perhaps cooperating not only with the Germans, but with new overseas allies such as Air Canada and United.