DECRYPTION – With this operation, the German group which brings together national companies (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, etc.) would distance its two challengers a little further: Air France-KLM and IAG.
It has been twenty-five years since the fate of the Italian national company, Alitalia, which became ITA on October 15, 2021, has been regularly put on the table. The company has never made money, and has even cost the Italian taxpayer 14 billion euros through successive recapitalizations during all these years.
But the refusal of political leaders to let go of its control has always blocked marriages, with KLM and then with Air France in particular, and prevented the inevitable consolidation from being completed. This time, it is Lufthansa which, before next summer, should enter the capital of ITA, for a minority share of, it is said, 40%. In order, secondly if all goes well, to take control after two years.
ITA is certainly only a fraction of the old Alitalia, with only 69 planes and 3,600 employees today, without a handling company. The company carried 10.2 million passengers in 2022. But with this operation, the…
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