Lufthansa is now selling ITA tickets on its website. Industry pundits are suggesting that this means Lufthansa is in the process of concluding a deal to buy a stake in the Italian carrier, the successor to Alitalia.
But a Lufthansa spokesperson has poured cold water on this speculation, and advised Travel News that the sale of tickets on the LH website is just a function of its interline agreement with ITA, which it has had for the past year.
In the meantime, there are other signs that a deal could soon be on the table. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has approved a decree to sell a minority stake in the Italian carrier, with the intention of concluding the full privatisation of ITA at a later date, in the process changing several items regarding the sale process of ITA as it was formed by the previous government. The decree removed the need as stipulated by the previous government of Mario Draghi earlier this year for the Treasury to sell a majority stake in the carrier.
According to Italian newspaper website www.rainews.it, the decree contains the Italian government’s vision for the future of ITA, saying the airline must have an international network, especially involving long-haul flights (rather than its hubs being reachable only through intermediate stops); it must protect Italy’s own air hubs of Fiumicino, Linate and Malpensa; and it must create a 50-50 partnership with ITA, plus the condition that bids for stakes in ITA may be made via capital increases.
The value of ITA, according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has dropped from €1,4 billion (R25,5bn) a year ago, to around €500 million (R9,1bn). Airline watchers suggest the German carrier could get a 40% stake for around €230-€240 million (R4,2-R4,4bn).
A year ago, in January 2022, Lufthansa made a joint bid with MSC, the largest shipping company in the world and the owners of MSC Cruises, to buy a controlling stake of 80% of the shares in the carrier. At the time, Lufthansa said the Italian market was extremely important and was its number-one European market and, globally, second only to the US market for Lufthansa.
However, in September, a joint bid by AF-KL, DL and equity company Certares appeared to be poised to unseat the LH-MSC bid. But nothing came of it.
Now, a year later, Lufthansa is back as the frontrunner and unnamed sources have told international press that LH has said what it now wants is a minority stake in the immediate term.
According to www.airdatanews.com, there is now an urgency for the Italian government to hand over the operations to an experienced partner, as the carrier runs at a loss, with costs of 8 cents per seat kilometre while earning revenue of just 6,7 cents per seat kilometre. Www.airdatanews.com uses the example of the 1 000km Rome to Frankfurt route, where ITA shows a loss of €13 (R238) per seat, but where the Lufthansa group makes a profit of €13.
Italy could still inject some €250 million (R4,6bn) into ITA before the end of 2023 under a special EU deal.
ITA last year posted an operating loss of €170 million (R3,1bn).
