Lufthansa back in the race for ITA Airways. MSC pulls out of negotiations
The news these days is that the sale of ITA Airways is still to be written. When at the end [...]
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The news these days is that the sale of ITA Airways is still to be written. When in late August the Draghi government . had chosen the Certares option, we were all amazed, MSC's made-in-Italy proposal with Lufthansa looked like it had what it took to rout the competition, but instead it ended otherwise.
In this article:
In these months, however, a lot has happened. There is a new government and in recent days the new board of directors was also appointed: Antonino Turicchi is the new president of Ita Airways, succeeding Alfredo Altavilla. Altavilla was reportedly defenestrated precisely for slowing down the action of the sale of the Italian company because, according to him, the best option was the MSC/Lufthansa pairing.
And it is indeed Lufthansa, which in recent hours has had access to the ITA Airways Data Room., lone access.
In these hours came the official note from MSC: "Msc Group confirms that it has already informed the relevant authorities that it is no longer interested in participating in the privatization of Ita Airways, as it does not see the conditions in the current procedure."
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You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
This was stated by the Msc group in a note.
Above is an article I had written in the not-so-suspicious time, when no formal bids had yet been submitted and I was putting my, simple, personal opinion in black and white.
Now we just have to wait and see if the new government's ideas are different from the previous one. On balance, the big difference between the two proposals had been precisely the privatization, full or partial, of the company. LH is intent on buying almost all of the shares held by the Ministry of Economy, while Certares, along with AF and Delta, were aiming for a still significant Italian state stake.
ITA has come a long way in recent months, but to continue on its path. needs an industrial partner, an alliance, and most importantly, to be able to fly away from the turbulence of the past 10 years. Things are not going badly, in 2023 will arrive almost 40 new planes and the network of destinations will continue to grow, however, without firm leadership and a business plan that can withstand the turbulence, the new flag carrier is destined to be short-lived.
As a frequent traveler and a serial accumulator of points and miles, I believe that for us Italians, the best solution is just the marriage with the German carrier rather than the American option. For several reasons:
Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss queues.
- Lufthansa has shown that it knows how to "lift up" struggling airlines
- Having Delta as a partner would, arguably, have imposed on ITA the same subservience Alitalia has had in the past on routes to the U.S.
- Air France and KLM will unleash real competition in the Italian market to counter the weight of Lufthansa, all to the benefit of Italian travelers
- Italy, and Fiumicino in particular, could become the answer to Istanbul's growth as a gateway to Africa and the Middle East
- Last but not least: if we are to attract tourists and "import" wealth to Italy, it is best to do so with a German partner, which has a decidedly different appeal in terms of tourism than Paris, and especially stopping over in charming Frankfurt is not as intriguing as doing so in the city of the Eiffel Tower.
Now all that remains is to wait for the German carrier's decision, I'm sure it won't take them long to formalize the offer or take it off the table.
