Ita Airways emerged from the insolvent Alitalia and is currently 100 percent owned by the Italian state. Lufthansa is interested in privatizing the airline and is working on the takeover. However, it is unclear how many shares could go to the German airline.
According to information from Rome, Ita Airways and Lufthansa are still in good negotiations about a possible entry of the Germans into the Italian state airline. The successor to the traditional company Alitalia said: "Ita Airways is continuing the positive and constructive talks with Lufthansa." The group from Frankfurt was chosen by the Italian Ministry of Finance - the current owner of Ita - as a possible partner "with the sole aim of achieving profitable development of the company," it said.
At the beginning of the year, Lufthansa had already sought a takeover of Ita in a partnership with the shipping company MSC. After months of negotiations, the government of ex-Prime Minister Mario Draghi initially decided in favor of the offer from the US fund Certares. However, further talks with the Americans failed in the autumn, so that Lufthansa - from now on without MSC - was able to see the books of Ita Airways again. According to media reports, managers of the crane airline were in Rome for formal talks last week.
According to reports, a central topic of the negotiations is how many shares in Ita could go to Lufthansa and what say Rome will have in the future. For ideological reasons alone, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government is likely to strive to maintain its influence as much as possible.
Ita Airways also announced its plans for the next few months, in which, among other things, 1,200 employees - such as pilots and flight attendants - are to be newly hired. In addition, the fleet is to be expanded from the current 65 aircraft to 104. According to the plan, nine long-haul aircraft will be added next year. In this regard, the airline spoke of "excellent results" despite the difficult international situation, for example because of the Ukraine war.
