Air France-KLM officially drops out of ITA Airways takeover talks

Air France-KLM is not interested in acquiring a stake in the Italian airliner ITA Airways. The French-Dutch aviation group already informed the Italian government of this, a spokesperson said. ITA is fully owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance.

ITA is the legal successor of the Alitalia, which was taken over by the Italian government early in the coronavirus pandemic after four years in administration. The airline was shut down on October 15, 2021, with its remaining operations were sold to the newly-formed ITA.

Italy now wants to privatize the airline. In addition, the Italian government is also requiring companies that invest in ITA to acquire a majority stake when the government completely exits the airline, Air France-KLM explained.

Lufthansa is now closer to an agreement on an investment in ITA, Bloomberg wrote earlier this week based on information from anonymous sources. The news agency wrote that the German aviation group plans to first buy 40 percent of ITA shares, with an option to eventually purchase the remainder of the company.

Air France-KLM emphasized that it wants to maintain commercial ties with its Italian counterpart, specifically their cooperation within the SkyTeam alliance. There are 19 airlines that are SkyTeam members, including the Russian airline Aeroflot, whose membership has been temporarily suspended. The active airlines can coordinate their customer loyalty programs and campaigns.

However, Lufthansa is part of rival group Star Alliance. While SkyTeam says it serves over 1,050 destinations, Star Alliance's 26 members provide flights to 1,200 airports worldwide, the organization said. Star Alliance is also based in Frankfurt, where Lufthansa's primary operations center is located.