After more than a year of negotiations, the European Commission has approved the entry of the German Lufthansa into the Italian state-owned company ITA Airways.
The conditions for the deal were met with the package of solutions proposed by the German airline, the committee announced in Brussels on Saturday.
Under the concessions, Lufthansa will leave the flight connections in Italy to its competitors Easyjet, Air France-KLM and International Airline Group.
With the green light from Brussels, Europe’s highest-earning air transport group overcame the final hurdle to an investment in ITA.
Both Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of Finance had to make commitments to the EU executive before final approval. This meant that competitors could operate more short- and long-haul flights from Italy and transfer take-off and landing rights at Milan-Linate Airport.
The plan is for the German airline to initially acquire 41% of ITA’s shares for a capital injection of €325 million ($343 million).
A full takeover of the airline could then take place over the coming years for more than €800 million.
Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) was formed in 2020 from the financially troubled state airline Alitalia. According to the latest figures, the company has almost 4,900 employees.
