dpa
Brussels/Frankfurt
German carrier Lufthansa has made further concessions to the European Commission in relation to its planned purchase of a large minority stake in Italian airline ITA Airways, a commission spokeswoman said in Brussels on Monday.
“We can confirm that the parties have submitted commitments aimed at addressing the preliminary competition concerns arising from the proposed transaction. We will now carefully assess them,” the spokeswoman said.
A Lufthansa spokesman referred to a “comprehensive, constructive solution” to address the commission’s concerns about the routes in question and the situation at Milan Linate Airport.
The draft agreement was also compatible with the economic realities on the highly competitive Italian market, he said.
Neither the commission nor Lufthansa provided details. However, Lufthansa expressed confidence that its purchase of a 41% stake in ITA, the successor to Alitalia, would be approved and that ITA would become part of Lufthansa this year.
It emerged three weeks ago that the EU competition authorities were raising objections to the deal due to concerns that competition could be impacted on certain routes within and from Italy. Customers could face higher prices or reduced quality, they said.
Lufthansa has already made concessions but is declining to provide details.
After months of negotiations, Lufthansa agreed with the Italian state last May to take a minority stake of 41%. In return, ITA is to receive ?325 million ($346 million) from Lufthansa. In addition, Lufthansa will be permitted to take over a further 49% of the shares under certain conditions from 2025, and the remaining 10% later.
