As had been understood for a few days MSc, the world leader in the transport of goods and passengers by sea belonging to the Aponte family, retires from privatization of ITA Airways, the small Italian airline born two years ago from the ashes of Alitalia and that the Meloni government, albeit reluctantly, he would like to sell by 2023 to prevent losses from eroding his capital altogether. We have “already informed the competent authorities – says a note from MSC – that we are no longer interested in the privatization of ITA Airways, not recognizing the conditions in the current procedure" and in fact MSC was not admitted to the ITA data room that the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, has surprisingly reopened at Lufthansa after the equally surprising closure of the procedures initiated by the Draghi government with the American-French-Dutch consortium formed by the US fund Certares, From Delta Air Lines and by Air France-KLM.
PRIVATIZATION OF ITA AIRWAYS: THE TWO NEWS OF THE LAST HOURS THAT CAN CHANGE THE GAME
The fog hangs over sale of ITA Airways and Giorgetti's move who, like the whole League, cheers Lufthansa in the hope of strengthening Malpensa airport, suggests that the wind has changed compared to the time of the Draghi government and that the Germans are ahead despite the Certares-Delta Air Lines consortium-Air France/Klm has not completely left the scene and although it is completely clear that the final decision will be taken by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
In the last few hours, however, two novelties have emerged which make the privatization of ITA even more uncertain: firstly, the exit from the scene of MSc weakens the German consortium even if it may favor Lufthansa's ambition not to share control of the Italian company with anyone in the event that it wins the tender Lufthansa, which aims to acquire 80% of the capital of ITA. The second novelty, which could suggest that ITA is not at the top of German priorities, is the massive hiring plan - 20 workers in all - which just yesterday Lufthansa launched to strengthen especially in Germany. The selection that concerns pilots and flight attendants but also technicians, lawyers and information technology experts - claimed the German airline - is intended "for the search for people in product and service oriented areas in the offices of Frankfurt, Munich , Zurich, Vienna and Brussels as well as at the technical base in Hamburg and at the headquarters of the Eurowings group”, which is a German low-cost airline based in Dusseldorf and with bases in Cologne-Bonn, Hamburg and Vienna.
LUFTHANSA BETS ON THE RELAUNCH OF POST-COVID AIR TRANSPORT
Lufthansa, which at the end of September had 107 employees, clearly focuses on the resumption of air transport after the end of the pandemic but little Ita may not be at the top of his thoughts. As for those of the Meloni government, who knows.
