ITA Airways, Alitalia’s successor, continues to be the talk of the town. Last month the Italian airline announced its entry into Skyteam but the agreement signed only has a duration of one year, while it has also found other codeshare partners such as TAP Air Portugal and Air Malta.
Now, as reported by Airliners.de, ITA board member Alfredo Altavilla commented to German media Handelsblatt that he wants ITA to be part of Lufthansa Group and expects a takeover by the Germans.
«It would be a mistake to keep us independent because then we would always be too small compared to other big airline groups operating in Europe. We are a pretty single lady who has many suitors,» Altavilla said.
«We expect Lufthansa to be one of those attractive and wealthy admirers who might be interested in ITA Airways,» he continued.
Altavilla stressed his appreciation for Lufthansa’s business model with its Austrian, Brussels, and Swiss airlines because the German giant has managed to integrate other smaller airlines, similar to ITA, with positive results. Altavilla also expressed his great respect for the CEO of the German group, Carsten Spohr.
Is Lufthansa the partner they all wish for?
Lufthansa, a founding member of the Star Alliance, is one of the most profitable airlines worldwide. Airlines such as Austrian, Brussels, and Swiss have been able to leave years of red after joining the German group.
Another major asset is its partners: it currently has a joint venture in the transatlantic market with Air Canada and United and another in the Japanese market with All Nippon Airways. This would serve to enhance ITA’s intercontinental network with such powerful airlines.
North America is Italy’s main long-haul market, United’s hubs including Newark (EWR), Chicago O’ Hare (ORD), Washington Dulles (IAD), Houston – Intercontinental (IAH), San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles (LAX) and Denver (DEN) have strong O&D (origin/destination) demand from the US to Italy, unlike other American airlines where much of their hubs are fed by onward connections. United recently announced its largest capacity expansion to Italy by summer 2022 with eight daily flights to four destinations including Milan Malpensa (MXP), Rome (FCO), Venice (VCE), and Naples (NAP).
Air Canada is the leading airline operator in the Canada-Italy market. Canada’s largest airline has an extensive network of flights from Toronto (YYZ) to Rome (FCO) and Venice (VCE), and from Montreal (YUL) to Rome (FCO), Venice (VCE), and Milan Malpensa (MXP), in addition to strong O&D demand in the summer season where the airline has used 450-seat Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on its routes.
Meanwhile, All Nippon Airways was previously a partner of Alitalia, but the possible entry of ITA Airways into the Lufthansa Group could bring the carrier into the JV and strongly increase its presence in the Japanese market. ITA has allocated slots at Tokyo Haneda (HND), the main hub of All Nippon Airways, where it operates a strong network of routes through the German group’s hubs such as Brussels (BRU), Vienna (VIE), Munich (MUC), Frankfurt (FRA) and Dusseldorf (DUS). In addition, it plans to start operations to Milan Malpensa (MXP).
ITA has a lot to gain from joining the Lufthansa Group – For years many Italian travelers have avoided flying with Alitalia, preferring to fly long-haul flights through the German carrier’s hubs, Altavilla says of its new partner being «beautiful and rich».
At the start of the new Alitalia, Lufthansa announced that it was ready to begin talks on commercial cooperation. Spohr described the first step and confirmed talks with Altavilla.
