Lufthansa Cleared To Takeover ITA Airways: How The Deal Was Allowed By Regulators

The European Commission (which we’ll refer to as the EC) has finally approved Germany's Lufthansa's purchase of 41% of Italian national airline ITA Airways, which was previously Alitalia.

The latest announcement follows months of consideration by the EC’s competition authority and concessions by the Lufthansa Group.

Well, in today’s video, we’ll examine this major European deal, what Lufthansa had to give up in order to attain regulatory clearance, and the ‘swift integration’ planned by Lufthansa Group.

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[jamesau]

Air France Ate SAS, now Lufthansa ate ITA in return Lol

[Sanginius]

LH groupe now flys every plane type from Boeing and Airbus under the Sky

[cabottaxi]

ITA have got one of the nicest liveries out of all the airlines.

[flying_kleffel]

As a scandinavian person i was more shocked that SAS did not get picked up by Lufthansa groupe they where/are in the same alliance but weirdly now scandinavian is gonna be in airfrance-klm groupe and skyteam

[tobiwan]

ITA's livery is the most beautiful out there. LH had to buy it as the pressure to consolidate in Europe is intense. There will only be 4-5 big ones left. ITA/Alitalia was almost never profitable, that's the downside, but LH got noriously unprofitable companies like Swiss, Austrian or Eurowings profitable, so maybe they can do it once more.

[CreditOneSux]

ITA airways to the Star Alliance in the future? 👀

[vavy]

lack of competition always lead to higher prices :(

[jonw]

as someone who flies to Italy a lot for work, and with no Star Alliance in the UK but with status I really like this. It gives me more options for long haul and I can start now earning when I travel for work!

[magnustan]

ITA has a lot of potential, I like their brand identity and their cabins look stylish in all classes. I’m a Star Alliance guy, so I’m excited to have the flag carrier of Italy become a potential option for me. I hope the might of Lufthansa group will prove ITA with the investment it needs to thrive.

[golfsrm]

Good luck to Lufthansa to make ITA profitable!

[vp]

Well the market in Italy is more competitive than the german one, low cost airlines fly from major airports like FCO and MXP, good luck to Lufthansa competing in Italy.

[FelixGlanzenberg]

It is interesting that the European Commission imposes such conditions, but turns a blind eye to the Lufthansa Group's de facto monopoly on traffic between Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland, which leads to completely overpriced fares there.

[bradrothberg]

I hope they leave the ita livery as is. I like the blue.

[LukaT]

If this really goes through, it'll be some of the best news for frequent flyers from the small and (as far as airline economics go) irrelevant country: Slovenia.
Why? Our country is poorly connected so Slovenes rely a lot on flying from various airports in the neighboring countries of Austria, Croatia and...
...Italy!
Slovenian airports are served by Lufthansa and Swiss, both part of the LH group and Star Alliance membes. Croatia airlines in Croatia and Austrian in Austria (from where we fly a lot) are also Star Alliance members. Because of this (and also because the ex flag carrier of Slovenia was in Star Alliance), many Slovenes are enrolled in the LH's Miles&More frequent flyer programme.
In the recent years, Slovenes also started traveling a lot from Italy (mainly from Trieste and Venice) - but ITA is (currently) SkyTeam. If ITA really gets into Star Alliance and adopts the Miles&More programme (status maching from the Volare for ITA's exsting frequent flyers), we'll be in a fantastic position for being loyal to Star Alliance.

[NicolaW]

That is indeed the most important development in the European Aviation Market at the moment. I was really astonished that it was not more recognized outside of Europe. Lufthansa can indeed be happy with this decision by the EU Cmmission because their Conditions can be fulfilled without risking the economic advantage. The single but important Uncertainty factor will be the Italian Politics because the Italian Governments holds at least at the moment still 59% of the shares.

[leeman]

Lufthansa is my preferred airline. I never had any issues when I’m flying with them.

[ProTch]

I hope this means that ITA will start flying again to Hungary. The route was discontinued when Alitalia went bankrupt and never came back. Every Lufthansa hub is connected to Hungary: Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels plus a bunch of Eurowings hubs in Germany. I would be nice to be able to have access to another longhaul hub.

[idxluaviation]

Lufthansa Group/Lufthansa Shareholding Full Airline List:

Lufthansa 🇩🇪
Lufthansa City 🇩🇪
Lufthansa CityLine 🇩🇪
Lufthansa Cargo 🇩🇪
SWISS International Airlines 🇨🇭
ITA Airways 🇮🇹
Air Dolomiti 🇮🇹
Edelweiss 🇨🇭
Eurowings 🇩🇪
Eurowings Europe 🇩🇪
Discover Airlines 🇩🇪
Austrian Airlines 🇦🇹
Brussles Airlines 🇧🇪
Sun Express 🇹🇷
AeroLogic 🇩🇪

[uweinhamburg]

The combined ITA/LH fleet will become more Airbus focussed, as ITA only operates Airbus. Overall good news for the EUropean aviation industry.
As long as the merger doesn't mean a significant reduction of flights or increase of prices, it's a win all situation,

[andrewkosmowski]

In summer of 2023, I flew on other Lufthansa Group airlines I had yet to fly (Austrian, Brussels, Swiss). I am glad I did so.