The deed that will close the sale will be signed today Ita Airways German style Lufthansa. A painful operation, born from a bankruptcy, that of the old Alitalia, and first due to the very difficult choice of a partner, then to the findings of the European Antitrust, which for a long time kept the operation at a standstill which risked seriously threatening the competition in the air transport sector.
Signing today
The signing of the deed of acquisition of 41% of Ita Airways by German partner Lufthansa will take place today. The date was announced by Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr last Wednesday during a meeting with employees. Nothing has been confirmed by the MEF, as the selling party, while the German company limited itself to confirming that the operation will close at the beginning of 2025.
From the EU green light to the assembly
The closing of the operation follows a series of steps necessary to reach the final signature. First of all, the European Commission gave the green light to the sale at the beginning of December, following the resolution of the Antitrust findings and the subsequent agreement between MEF and Lufthansa on some aspects of the transaction (the allocation of slots).
For the green light for the operation, the The EU has imposed various conditions to guarantee competition on short-haul routes (in Europe) and long-haul routes (intercontinental flights), but the hottest chapter was that of assignment of slots of Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino, which were taken over by Easyjet. Other guarantees were then offered by Lufthansa to Air France-KLM and IIA (British Airways and Iberia) for flights between Rome and Paris and between Rome and London.
Before Christmas, it was held the shareholders’ meeting of Ita Airways, which has the capital increase was approved of the value of 325 million euros reserved for Lufthansa, with which the German company formalized its investment, entering the capital of Ita with a 41% share.
The next steps
After signing the sales agreement, a meeting will be convened new assembly for the appointment of the Board of Directorswhich will be expanded from three to five members, with the entry of two Lufthansa directors, one as CEO. The new CEO, according to what has already been leaked, should be Joerg Eberhartwho today is responsible for Lufthansa’s strategy and held the position of President and CEO of Air Dolomiti, later incorporated into Lufthansa.
The entry into the capital of Ita with a 41% stake is only the first step. The agreement provides for progressive increase in participation in two phases over the next few years, in order to take over 100% of the company by 2033, with a total investment of 830 million euros.
Hiring
Lufthansa also announced last week a important hiring planexplaining who he intends to hire 10,000 people on various positives in 2025: approximately 800 pilots, more than 2,000 flight attendants, more than 1,400 people for ground operations and approximately 1,300 technicians, in addition to 1,200 employees for administrative areas; over 2,000 employees will be hired at Lufthansa Technik, while Austrian Airlines and Eurowings are each looking for around 700 people. More than half of the hiring will take place in Germany.
In Italy, however, there is still a debate about 2,118 former Alitalia workerswhich has been extended redundancy fund until October 31, 2025, still avoiding dismissal.
