© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view shows Lufthansa planes parked at Frankfurt Airport during a nationwide strike called by the German trade union Verdi over a wage dispute in Frankfurt, Germany on March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
By Aditi Shah
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Lufthansa hopes to finalize its partial takeover of state-owned Alitalia within days, a German airline executive said on Thursday, describing talks with the Italian government as “very good”.
The two airlines have agreed on how they can work together to win market share, Harry Hohmeister, head of global markets and network for Lufthansa Air Group, told a news conference in New Delhi to announce new flights to India.
“We will probably start with a minority share and the rest is still under negotiation,” he said.
Last week, the chairman of the board of directors of the Italian airline said that the authority had worked out the main elements of the deal and hoped to announce it soon.
Sources said earlier that the German carrier is negotiating with Rome about buying a 40% stake in ITA, at a value of about 200 million euros ($218.82 million), with the idea of buying the rest later.
“A successful partnership with an airline always comes from good cooperation in sales, capacity management, appropriate network design and obtaining the right prices in the market,” said Hohmeister. “I think eventually we will win market share.”
The deal with ITA is expected to help Lufthansa win more flyers from India, the world’s fastest-growing airline market as the German carrier expands as air travel rebounds strongly. Italy is a popular destination for Indian tourists, and ITA is already operating some nonstop flights between Italy and India.
Lufthansa said earlier on Thursday that it would soon launch flights between Germany and the southern Indian cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Lufthansa is adding services to India as Tata Group-owned Air India plans strong growth with nonstop flights to Europe and the US, and low-cost airline Indigo expands its global network through codeshare partner Turkish Airlines.
“We take it very seriously that India is on its way,” Homester said, but noted that competition from carriers in the Middle East is a bigger concern.