Ita-Lufthansa, solution closer. German sources optimistic. By Monday the final document to the EU Commission

An agreement is possible as early as tomorrow morning, to then proceed with the finalisation of the documents in the following hours and in time for the deadline set by the EU Commission, 23:59 on the eleventh of November. This is the assessment that filters through from German sources regarding the negotiations between Ita and Lufthansa. An optimistic assessment, based on the fact that the Teutonic company has decided not to insist on its initial requests to lower the price for the second tranche of Ita with the aim of overcoming the stalemate that came about almost a week ago. 'Two-thirds of the knots have been solved, the remaining third remains to be negotiated,' it explained.

Parties at work, therefore, to close the operation Ita/Lufthansa in view of tomorrow's deadline when the parties should send to the European Commission the document containing the 'remedies' requested by Brussels to definitively seal the marriage between the two airlines. In these hours the Mef (Ita's sole shareholder) and the German company are working to find a balance after Lufthansa's requests for "a discount" on the second investment tranche of 325 million for 49% of Ita's capital. a move that did not please the ministry, which decided not to sign the submission of documents to Brussels that the parties were ready to send earlier this week. The price fluctuation on the value of the investment is one of the clauses in the contract signed in June 2023, which Lufthansa decided to exercise.

A possible postponement of the timing should not prelude a halt to the transaction, since 11 November is not a peremptory deadline and therefore the EU could grant more time. The agreement could go two ways: either a reduction in the revaluation of the investment price of the second tranche; or a deferred purchase over time of 49% of Ita.

Coming to the so-called remedies, the European Commission has asked the two companies to release a number of slots to ensure the protection of competition in market segments deemed critical by the EU antitrust authority. The subjects that should take over these slots are easyJet, Air France and Iag. In particular, the British low-cost airline will compete at Milan-Linate and on the routes between Italy and Central Europe, while Air France and Iag (the holding company of British, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus) will operate through their hubs - therefore with a stopover - on the long connections from Fiumicino to Washington, San Francisco and Toronto.