Ita Airways, the government tries to close with Lufthansa. Decree passed to speed up the sale

“We search an industrial partner to make it work,” said the Economy Minister, according to reports Giancarlo Giorgetti during the CDM regarding the dossier on the sale of Ita. With this hope, the Council of Ministers then approved a decree to speed up the transfer procedures. The subjects who participated in the previous procedure and at the same time are confirmed the obligation for the Treasury not to cede the majority is no longer valid. At the moment the company is 100% in the hands of the Ministry of Economy. It assumes significant importance, for the purposes of the sale – it is explained in government circles – the business plan of the proposed airline buyer. Among the novelties there is also a capital increase reserved for Ita’s future industrial partner. There seems to be, perhaps, an interest on the part of the German Lufthansa on the company. We’ll see if this time we go beyond the declarations of intent as happened so far. In recent months, the US fund Certares, Air France and the naval group have pulled out MSc.

The company has so far flown losing around 1.5 million euros per day (300 million the loss in the first 9 months) despite the small size of the fleet. At the beginning of November, the Treasury paid the company others 400 million, penultimate tranche of the 1.3 billion of transfers authorized from Brussels. 200 million euros remainafter which the State will no longer be able to support Ita on the basis of the agreements reached with Brussels.

However, the management is optimistic and draws up a plan that heralds profitability. “For the first time, in the last twenty years in the budget of the Italian flag carrier, revenues exceed costs“, the CEO announced today Fabio Lazzerini, stating that there was “a lot of attention to costs”. For example, “the 107% increase in fuel only impacted 55/60% of the accounts, the rest was offset by higher revenues and cost savings“. “We are a startup born in October 2021, shortly after there was Omicron, then war, then expensive fuel. And yet, despite this, the company is performing much better than expected,” he explained. Next year “on the long haul we will double the seats offered, both in North America and South America”. Also, Ita “opened connection with Tokyo a month and a half ago and the one with New Delhi two weeks ago. We are keeping our commitment, especially in the long haul, which is a need of the country and a main source of income”. Lazzerini pointed out that “the more long-haul is strengthened, the more domestic flights develop, both outbound and return: we will increasingly bring intercontinental passengers to the territories as well”.

In the meantime, the second confrontation will take place tomorrow between the top management of Ita Airways and the trade unions on the subject ofincrease in wages of company employees, after the end of the start-up phase. As for future recruitments (1,200 new posts), Lazzerini specified that the former Alitalia basin “it is our reference and not only because we are aware that there are people on layoffs with excellent professionalism for our needs and for the awareness that the layoffs are paid by the state. We will do everything to ensure that there is access to the basin”. The clarification comes after the company organized two recruiting days, in Milan and Rome, open to all.