New international connections, more planes, greater attention to sustainable fuels, further hiring, a more precious loyalty program. According to many aviation industry experts, these are some of the effects of the wedding of the year. Brussels authorized the sale of the Italian airline ITA Airways to the Germans of Lufthansa yesterday. Meanwhile, among the low-cost airlines there are those who don't exclude an appeal to Eu Court against the wedding.

The innovations for passengers generated by this agreement are potentially immense. To see them in practice, however, we need to wait for the synergies between ITA and Lufthansa to take shape. So, not before the beginning of 2025. Above all, there is a reduction in airline ticket prices, made possible by a cut in fuel costs that could reach -30%. Travelers will also be able to take advantage of a doubling of routes to the United States, without forgetting the increase in flights from Rome-Fiumicino to Asia and Africa.

The European Competition Commission, Margrethe Vestager, gave the green light to the marriage on the basis of sacrifices (remedies) proposed by ITA-Lufthansa: in particular the transfer of 15 pairs of airport slots (to be assigned to competing airlines) in Milan- Linate, which translated into flights means 204 air connections in the Summer season and 192 in the Winter.

Meanwhile, József Váradi, CEO of the Hungarian low-cost company Wizz Air, in an interview with the Italian newspaper "la Repubblica" makes it known that the transfer of airport slots at Milan-Linate is "an insufficient recipe" which could lead ITA and Lufthansa to gain "a clear dominance, an half-monopoly". Therefore, "first we need to understand exactly how the merger will be carried out. Then we will decide" on a possible appeal to Eu Court.

On the same topic, see also the article published by AVIONEWS.