By 26 April 2024, the Lufthansa Group and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) will have to provide Brussels with solutions to obtain the European green light for the privatization of the Italian flag carrier ITA Airways. Yesterday the technicians of the competition commission, led by Margrethe Vestager, sent 200 pages of objections relating to the procedure: possible monopolies on the Milan-Linate airport, on intra-European flights and to North America.

There are at least 39 routes on which ITA and Lufthansa will have to make sacrifices to obtain the green light from Brussels. First of all, there are 13 very profitable intercontinental routes: Rome-New York; Rome-Washington; Rome-San Francisco; Rome-Chicago; Rome-Toronto; Rome-Los Angeles; Rome-Miami; and Rome-Tokyo. Others with stopovers in Fiumicino, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich: the Naples-New York; the Milan-San Francisco; the Florence-New York; Catania-New York; Bologna-New York. Added to these are 12 short-haul routes between Italy and Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium) and 14 routes to and from Southern Italy (Bari, Brindisi, Cagliari, Naples, Palermo).

Then there is the matter of the "Enrico Forlanini" airport of Milan-Linate. The technicians of the Vestager Commission said "that the transaction would significantly hinder effective competition due to the potential creation or strengthening of a dominant position" in the airport, where ITA and Lufthansa would have a total of 64% of the airport slots. The solution? Give up about 30% of these ones.

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