MSC and Lufthansa about to join ITA Airways – Economy

The shipping company MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has confirmed its interest in a majority stake in the Italian airline ITA Airways and also wants to bring Lufthansa on board the consortium. The company announced on Monday evening that, together with Lufthansa, they had requested a period of three months for exclusive negotiations with ITA. According to reports, Lufthansa will initially not buy any shares in ITA itself, but will act as a commercial and strategic partner.

ITA only started flight operations in mid-October 2021 as the successor to the insolvent Alitalia. It is currently fully state-owned and is building its fleet and route network on the basis of a state funding package approved by the European Commission. However, ITA boss Alfredo Altavilla had repeatedly emphasized that the airline needed partners who would take over the shares. The sale of the airline should be decided by mid-2022. Altavilla wants to present the future corporate strategy to the supervisory board and the public in the coming week.

Lufthansa has been mentioned as a possible investor for the old Alitalia for many years. However, she had named tough restructuring steps as a prerequisite for entry, which the old management and the Italian state had always rejected. In the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Italy then decided to wind down Alitalia after decades of losses and to invest in a new airline.

In the case of ITA, Lufthansa emphasized from the start that it was ready for commercial cooperation. Apparently, as part of the agreement with MSC, it should stay that way, at least for the time being. In industry circles, however, it is said that an entry as a shareholder is now conceivable at a later stage.

Italy is one of the most important markets for Lufthansa. It has built up a dense network of feeder flights, in which it lets numerous passengers, especially from northern Italy, transfer via the hubs in Munich and Frankfurt. Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines already belong to the Lufthansa Group.

ITA is only about half the size of the old Alitalia and is launching under the most difficult conditions possible, not only because of the pandemic. Low-cost airlines have long dominated European short-haul routes, above all Ryanair. ITA currently only uses five aircraft for long-haul routes, which are only possible to a very limited extent. Most recently, however, the airline ordered 28 machines from Airbus, an order that is only intended to mark the beginning of strong growth over the coming years.

According to MSC, it is the world market leader in container shipping, but is also active in cruises. The company was founded in 1970 by the Italian seaman Gianluigi Aponte and is still family-owned today. The company has been based in Geneva since 1978, where the Aponte family also lives.

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