Ita-Lufthansa, operation notified to the EU. The sale of slots at Linate is in sight

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The Lufthansa-Ita merger, after months of discussions, has finally been notified to the European antitrust authority, the Competition Directorate of the EU Commission. The operation involves the entry of German Lufthansa in the capital of Ita Airways with a 41% share for a value of 325 million euros.

Lufthansa and the risk of strengthening its dominant position

The notification, sources close to the matter report, was agreed with the Competition Directorate, after months of negotiations made difficult above all by the large market share that the Lufthansa group already holds on some of the main European routes. Implicitly, it means that a first compromise has been found. According to a source cited by the Reuters agency, among the remedies proposed to the European Antitrust is the sale by Lufthansa of some slots from Milan airports. A slot is a “slot” with permission to land and take off at an airport.

In particular, at Linate there is the risk of strengthening the “dominant position” on some international routes, including the Brussels destination. The Commission and competing companies are also concerned about the feeder activity that the group could carry out from Italy to Lufthansa hubs.

The Lufthansa Group today already controls SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines with three global hubs (Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich) and two national hubs (Vienna and Brussels). Added to these are also the regional airlines Lufthansa CityLine, Air Dolomiti and Eurowings Discover, the group’s airline dedicated to holidays.

In the pre-notification negotiations with the Commission, the crux was precisely this: to prevent the acquisition of Ita from leading to a further strengthening of the dominant position by drastically reducing the possibility of competition on some routes. Between the waivers requested by the Commission and the resistance of Lufthansa, ITA and the Italian government risked ending up like the earthenware jar. The situation was resolved on November 22nd on the occasion of the meeting between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Chancellor Olaf Scholzin Berlin.