Lufthansa considers the full takeover of the Italian state-owned airline ITA Airways possible after 2027.

The full synergies of the deal could then be utilized, said Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr in a conference call with analysts on Friday. In 2025, 20 to 30 percent of the synergies could be achieved and in 2026 to 2027 70 to 80 percent. ITA's cost structure will continue to improve and the takeover will make Lufthansa even more European, said Spohr. The deal will also have a positive impact for Lufthansa investors. Lufthansa Executive Board member Michael Niggemann said that as a new airline and therefore a kind of start-up, ITA was more efficient than the other hub airlines in the Lufthansa Group. Personnel costs are around 20 percent lower than in Germany and productivity is around 20 percent higher.

Following lengthy negotiations, the EU competition regulator gave the green light on Wednesday for Lufthansa to acquire an initial 41 percent stake in the Alitalia successor. After several attempts, Lufthansa has thus achieved its goal of growing in its second most important market outside its home markets after the USA. The other two European aviation groups, IAG and Air France-KLM, also want to strengthen themselves with takeovers. ITA, which emerged from the chronically loss-making state airline Alitalia four years ago in a restructured and shrunken form, is to benefit from Lufthansa's network. It will become the Group's fifth network airline alongside Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss. Rome Fiumicino Airport is to join Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich and Brussels as the sixth and southernmost hub.

In May 2023, Lufthansa agreed with the Italian government to purchase an initial 41% stake in ITA for 325 million euros. In addition, options for a complete takeover were agreed, starting in 2025 at the earliest.

(Report by Joanna Plucinska and Klaus Lauer; edited by Sabine Wollrab - If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)).