Ryanair supports Lufthansa for Ita Airways
What the CEO of the Ryanair group, Michael O'Leary, said about the sale of Ita Airways during the presentation of the low-cost carrier's summer programme.
"Lufthansa will do nothing for the growth of Ita, it will limit itself to making flights from Milan to Munich and Frankfurt" but "The Germans are the best solution for the Italian company".
This is what Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary claimed last week on the sidelines of the presentation of the 2023 offer of the Irish company, Europe's leading low-cost carrier and first carrier in Italy.
Dublin's number one low-cost airline once again speaks out on the sale of Ita Airways, the airline born from the ashes of Alitalia. Already last October O'Leary had said that he sees Ita Airways as a company that will continue to shrink and require continued support from the government.
The statements come in decisive days for the sale of a share in Ita Airways. Just Lufthansa's offer was expected in these days.
FOR THE RYANAIR CEO THE STATE SHOULD SELL ALL ITA TO THE GERMANS
"Nobody knows what will happen, it will probably end up in the hands of Lufthansa and will never grow again because the Germans will use the company to move traffic to Frankfurt," said O'Leary. “The state should sell everything to the Germans who are the best partner for Ita compared to Paris. The 75 years of public scrutiny have been 75 years of nightmare” remarked the CEO of Ryanair.
Michael O'Leary therefore confirms what he has already pointed out in recent months regarding the Italian company: "Ita will always lose money, they don't have a business plan, Delta and Air France are the wrong partners, Lufthansa would have been better" he said last October when the fund US private equity firm Certares, Air France-KLM and Delta were the favorites to sell Ita Airways.
ABOUT THE AIR FRANCE AND DELTA RECIPE
“After all, Alitalia has already tried the Air France and Delta Air Lines recipe and the result has been that these two carriers have drained the traffic in their hubs. But I also think that Lufthansa will invest in Italy only if it can manage it, otherwise it makes no sense to leave the leadership to the Italian state which in three quarters of a century has only done damage to the airline” underlined the CEO of Ryanair in an interview with Corriere della Evening .
According to the CEO of the Irish low-cost airline, “the other problem for Ita is that “it cannot compete with Ryanair in Italy and on short-haul routes”. Regarding the market share of the Dublin company in Italy, O'Leary highlighted to Corriere that: “We are around 42% today and we were 25% pre Covid. In 2019 Alitalia had 15% and today Ita has 9%," adding that it expects to grow by "at least another 10-15%".
Then in November there was the twist for the privatization of Ita Airways: Treasury Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti got MSC and Lufthansa back on track.
WAITING FOR LUFTHANSA'S OFFER
And now Lufthansa's offer is awaited, following the publication on January 2 in the Official Gazette of the Dpcm which set the rules for the sale of the newco.
The government considers the airline sector "strategic" for the country and in the decree has put its idea and vision on the future of Ita on paper. In particular, the new industrial partner, therefore Lufthansa, will have to implement some elements considered essential: the development of an international network, especially on the long haul because the government believes that Italy should be a "direct" destination and not reached through intermediate ports; guarantee employment levels; protect national hubs such as Fiumicino, Malpensa, Linate and create a partnership in which Ita is not a "junior partner" but an equal partner to ensure full development.
Finally, if Ita ends up in the hands of Lufthansa, Ryanair's number one is ready to knock on the Brussels Antitrust: "we will ask that Ita release some slots at Rome Fiumicino airport" Micheal O'Leary told Corriere .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/ryanair-tifa-lufthansa-per-ita-airways/ on Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:21:28 +0000.