After three years of conflicting bids, regulatory issues and intentions over Italian airline ITA and an even longer unwinding of its predecessor, Alitalia, the deal is done: Lufthansa has formally acquired 41% of ITA’s shares from the Italian government and welcomed the airline under the Lufthansa Group umbrella.
The deal also provides for a new Lufthansa capital investment of €325 million in ITA, and pledges that it will maintain the airline as a full-service carrier with hubs in Rome and Milan. Under the deal, Lufthansa can buy another 49% between now and 2029, and the final 10% in 2029.
ITA joins four other mainline carriers in the group—Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels—as well as several leisure brands such as Eurowings. ITA Airways will soon leave the SkyTeam Alliance and join Lufthansa’s other brands in Star Alliance. It’s not known whether, at some point, ITA might bring back the Alitalia name, which it bought rights to in the former carrier’s bankruptcy sale.
Like the other carriers in the group, ITA has a network of routes serving North America, but it also brings a stronger presence than the others in Africa and South America. Rome will now be the Lufthansa group’s most southern hub.
