Regulatory approval for the recently announced Deutsche Lufthansa stake in Italian airline ITA Airways will be a welcome step on the path to greater consolidation among European airlines.
This month OAG schedules list 197 European-domiciled airlines. This is a large number, and many would say it is far too many. But what else changes with ITA Airways becoming part of the Deutsche Lufthansa family?
Lufthansa Has Form on Acquisitions
This is not the first time Lufthansa has acquired smaller and failing European airlines. Twenty years ago the airline took ownership of Air Dolomiti (another Italian airline) and it did the same for Swiss International Airlines and Edelweiss Air in 2007, Austrian Airlines in 2009, and then Brussels Airlines in 2016. The Deutsche Lufthansa Group, including these airlines along with Eurowings, now provides 12% of all scheduled capacity in Europe. While ITA only operates 1.3% of European capacity this month, this is on par with both Austrian and Swiss, and…
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