{"id":318444,"date":"2024-01-23T16:58:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T15:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/01\/23\/dubbi-ue-operazione-ita-lufthansa\/"},"modified":"2024-01-29T14:22:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T13:22:41","slug":"eu-doubts-on-ita-lufthansa-deal-in-depth-analysis-undertaken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/01\/23\/eu-doubts-on-ita-lufthansa-deal-in-depth-analysis-undertaken\/","title":{"rendered":"EU doubts on Ita-Lufthansa deal, in-depth analysis undertaken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013\u00a0The sale of Ita to Lufthansa can wait<\/strong>. The Commission has doubts about compatibility with the functioning of the single market and competition, so it is launching an in-depth analysis of the proposed merger notified on 30 November 2023<\/a>. “We want to assess the transaction in more detail<\/strong>,” cuts short Margrethe Vestager<\/strong>, Competition Commissioner. “We want to make sure,” she explains, “that any go-ahead does not reduce competition in short- and long-haul traffic and does not lead to higher prices, lower availability, or lower quality of air passenger services to and from Italy.”<\/p>\n

After an initial assessment, there is doubt that a merger between Ita and Lufthansa could “reduce competition on short-haul routes connecting Italy with central European countries”<\/strong>. Especially on some such routes, the two airlines are currently direct competitors for nonstop connections, with limited competition from other airlines, especially low-cost carriers such as Ryanair. The Ita-Lufthansa union could also mean the union of market shares, reducing the participation of other operators too much and affecting final prices.<\/p>\n

For long-haul routes, the assessment concerns inter-continental routes between Italy and North America.<\/strong> Here Vestager’s services must determine whether Ita and Lufthansa’s partners in the joint-venture with United Airlines and Air Canada should be treated as activities of a single entity.<\/p>\n

There is also the risk of a monopoly at Milan’s Linate airport. Lufthansa’s acquisition of Ita “could give rise to ITA’s dominant position at the Lombard airport <\/strong>or strengthen it, making it more difficult for competitors to provide air passenger services to and from Milan Linate.<\/p>\n

The knots to unravel are not a few. The Commission has 90 working days to decide whether to reject the proposed operation outright, endorse it and thus give the go-ahead, or allow it under certain conditions, such as slots surrender and takeoff and landing time slots. The deadline to clear doubts and reservations is June 6, European election day<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doubts over competition, pricing, and role in Milan Linate airport. Vestager: “We want to assess the transaction in more detail.” Time until June 6 for a decision<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":317817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[26119,26508,26509,26510,26511,26099],"class_list":["post-318444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-transport-aerial-en","tag-antitrust-en-2","tag-ita-en","tag-airthansaone","tag-margrethe-vestager-a","tag-transport-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1024,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330341,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318444\/revisions\/330341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}