Negotiations between the Ministry of Finance and Lufthansa for the sale of a minority interest in It Things are “going well” and the aim is to “sign the pre-sale contract as quickly as possible” and then “quickly get the green light from the EU Commission”. From this one learnshandle citing sources close to the dossier.
“The government wants Lufthansa to take operational control as soon as possible so that ITA can benefit from the group’s synergies as soon as possible,” the same sources emphasize, explaining this The start of operations is planned for “summer”. of Lufthansa in Italy.
In the memorandum signed between the Treasury and Lufthansa, Ita Airways’ stake up for sale is “between 20 and 40%”. The German group, according to sources, eventually “will buy 40%” for a cost of between 250 and 300 million euros”.
“Fiumicino will be the center for Latin America and Africa because it will be the southernmost hub in the Lufthansa network,” it says, emphasizing that “it’s an advantage to be an hour and a half closer to the southern hemisphere compared to the other hubs in the network.”
In addition, the Italian company “The Frankfurt and Munich hubs are not supplied with electricity “In favor of Lufthansa on the routes to North America”, which have always been considered the most profitable, “Lufthansa will not give any credit”. “Frankfurt no longer has the capacity” to handle other passengers, they explain. Therefore, “Italian passengers can continue to fly directly from Italy to the United States with Ita”, as is the case with the other hubs of the group: Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich and Brussels, “from which they fly to the United States “.
“The European Commission is not in an easy position. They asked the Italian government to sell Ita, the Italian government is doing exactly what they said and now they won’t be able to say, ‘You can’t sell it anymore'”. The sources explain and emphasize this Operation ‘gives green light from Commission’.