BERLIN (Reuters) – Lufthansa expects its planned stake in Italy's ITA Airlines to boost the German flagship carrier's profits by hundreds of millions of euros in the coming years, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told newspaper FAZ in an interview published on Monday.
The German airline is set to acquire a 41% stake in ITA, the successor airline to bankrupt Alitalia, for 325 million euros ($335 million) on January 13, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters last week, ending years of talks. .
“Without the possibility of contributing profits in the range of three million, we would not have taken this step,” Spohr said of the Lufthansa acquisition.
In November, the European Commission approved a package of competition solutions to secure more routes for the German national carrier's counterparts, paving the way for completing the deal.
Spur reiterated that a 100% takeover is the “obvious goal” but that an increase in its stake is not currently planned for 2025.
“It is in our interest to keep the Italian government involved in the coming months,” he said, adding that the companies will need about 18 months to fully integrate their systems.
