The European Commission announced Wednesday its approval of the planned ITA-Lufthansa merger.
The EC approves the ITA-Lufthansa merger with some caveats attached. This approval is conditional on measures to protect competition at Milan’s Linate airport, on short-haul routes between Italy and Central Europe. It also takes into account long-haul routes between Rome’s Fiumicino airport and North America.
Lufthansa will initially acquire a 41% stake in ITA from the Italian economy ministry (MEF) through a 325-million-euro capital increase. This stake is set to rise to 100% by 2033, with a total investment of 829 million euros.
Currently, the MEF owns ITA, which replaced the loss-making former flag carrier Alitalia in 2021. The Commission’s approval followed an in-depth investigation, addressing several competition-related objections.
Unions representing Lufthansa and ITA Airways employees had jointly appealed to European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to approve the merger. The Commission stated that despite ITA’s current strong performance, its long-term sustainability as an independent carrier was uncertain without the merger.
“At a time when consumers are facing increasingly higher prices for air travel, preserving competition in the sector is crucial,” said Vestager. “We carefully assessed whether Lufthansa’s acquisition of a controlling stake in ITA would raise competition concerns. We aimed to prevent passengers from facing higher prices or reduced quality of services on certain routes in and out of Italy. The remedies proposed by Lufthansa and the MEF ensure that competitive pressure remains on all relevant routes, addressing our concerns.”
