Ita-Lufthansa, the union is done. The Germans start with a capital increase of 325 million for 41%. Here's what the new offer will look like

The wedding Italy-Lufthansa today, it must be said, they are taking flight. After more than 7 months of negotiations and stop-and-gos and risks of rupture, the European Commission has formally given its positive opinion to the marriage between Ita Airways and Lufthansa. The announcement from Brussels arrived this morning, ahead of the expected deadline of 4 July, which was followed by the first joint press conference between the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti, the executive president of Ita Antonino Turicchi and Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr. It's a another piece of Italy that is leaving, After the sale of Tim's landline network, with the sale of the company in sight 26,73% share of MPS and a share of the PagoPa payment platform.

“We have evaluated very carefully” the Ita-Lufthansa operation, the vice-president of the European Commission said today, Margrethe Vestager, “it was necessary to avoid passengers ending up paying more or finding themselves with fewer and lower quality air transport services on certain routes in and out of Italy. The remedy package proposed by Lufthansa and the Mef fully responds to our concerns competition by ensuring that a sufficient level of competitive pressure remains on all relevant routes."

The green light from the EU Commission for the marriage between Ita Airways and Lufthansa "closes the age-old affair of national air transport", which lasted 40 years and culminated in the bankruptcy of Alitalia, underlined Giorgetti who considers the operation an "Italian, German success and European". “The positive solution occurs with an operator like Lufthansa which comforts us and allows us to develop air traffic to and from Italy, to develop the Italian economy” added the minister.

Agreement in 3 stages: in total Lufthansa will inject 829 million

The agreement arrived at conclusion in mid-June, provides three stages. It starts with a reserved capital increase of 325 million with which the European giant will enter ITA for a 41% stake. In the second step Lufthansa will have the opportunity to increase to 90%. Therefore it will also be able to take over the remaining 10% by 2033, for a total investment of 829 million euros.

Antitrust conditions

The green light will incorporate all the conditions imposed by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager for the merger between the two airlines. To obtain the clearance, both Mef/Ita and Lufthansa had to put pen to paper some stakes which they will have to respect. For Milan Linate, an agreement was reached on transfer of 15-17 pairs (take-off and landing rights) of slots, equal to 30-34 flights per day in both directions, at rival companies which will compete for at least three years on intra-European routes, where Ita and Lufthansa would otherwise be monopolists. The candidates at the moment are EasyJet, which would be allowed to open a base, and Volotea).

Second stake: the two companies will have to mitigate the current reduction in competition on flights between Fiumicino and North America by identifying either a rival on direct connections (with Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Toronto) or by selecting for each route two new competitors capable of offering connections with a stopover of no more than 2 hours and a total flight time of no more than 3 hours longer than direct. Second Giorgetti in the new Lufthansa era, Fiumicino airport will become the launch base for long-haul flights, with destinations in America, but also Africa and Asia.

Waiting for the appointments: the CEO at Lufthansa, the president at the Mef

ITA and Lufthansa will have four months to implement these remedies. Immediately afterwards there will be the closing with the capital increase, the statutory changes, the appointment of a new board of directors (3 members, including the president, belong to the MEF, 2 to Lufthansa which will appoint the CEO) and the start of the relaunch plan .