The President of the Italian Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni would have met in recent days in Rome Gianluigi Aponte, the founder of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Group, specialized in the logistics and transport sectors of goods and people, particularly by sea, but also via train and plane. The reason for the meeting would be a possible participation of the shipowner in the privatization of the national airline ITA Airways. 

It cwas revealed by the Italian newspaper "la Repubblica", which cites as sources some people close to the Italian Government. The European Competition Commission is evaluating the agreement between the Lufthansa airline and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and will give its decision by 6 June. If the "remedies" required to avoid the formation of monopolies in the market were too heavy for the Germans, this could reopen the way to an ITA-MSC negotiation. 

In September 2023 Gianluigi Aponte had already given his availability to the Meloni Government for possible assistance in the event of a complication with Lufthansa. However, MSC had already been excluded once from negotiations for the privatization of the Italian airline. A fact that the shipowner did not take well: so much so that a few weeks later he created a division dedicated to air cargo, followed by the purchase of Italo trains company

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