Lufthansa clears the final hurdle to acquire Italy’s ITA
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Back in July, we wrote that “The long-running saga of Lufthansa’s investment in Italy’s ITA, the 96 aircraft airline that arose from the ashes of Alitalia, is over.”
This was after Lufthansa Group had been given final approval to acquire 41% of the airline, with options to buy the remainder over time, which would create a fifth national carrier to operate alongside Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS and Brussels.
Of course, nothing is that simple.
Lufthansa still had to agree a few things:
- a slot transfer at Milan Linate to a short haul competitor
- all ITA flights at Milan Linate to Lufthansa Group hubs to be surrendered to a third party
- a commitment to offer additional flights from Rome to IAG and Air France KLM hub cities to improve long haul competition to North America
The European Commission confirmed this week that Lufthansa has met all of these conditions. easyJet was the chosen ‘remedy taker’ and will base five aircraft at Milan Linate and three at Rome Fiumicino.
This takes easyJet to a total of 38 arcraft based in Italy, where it now flies to 20 Italian airports and carries 20 million passengers annually.
From a loyalty perspective, it isn’t clear what is happening.
Lufthansa will legally complete its investment any day now. We were told earlier in the year that Volare (ITA) members will be able to collect or spend miles via Miles & More, and top tier members will receive Lufthansa Group lounge access, from Day 1. However, there is no time given for:
- ITA to leave SkyTeam
- ITA to complete the IT integration required to join Star Alliance
This isn’t necessarily good news for people with Volare elite status via the British Airways status match a couple of years ago. Those cards will expire before the Star Alliance integration occurs, unless Lufthansa choses to extend them.
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