Italian government is selling ITA Airways fast

Italy’s new flag carrier Italia Trasporto Aero, or ITA Airways, has not been in the sky for long. ITA operated its inaugural domestic flight in October 2021, followed by its first long-haul service to New York the following month. However, the Italian government is already preparing to sell its reborn national airline.

According to Bloomberg, the start of the process could be approved as early as this week. The Mario Draghi-led administration will discuss the sale of the company at a cabinet meeting to be held tomorrow, Friday. The prospective buyer is the Mediterranean Shipping Company, or MSC from Switzerland, backed by German national airline Lufthansa.

We reported on on Jan. 25 that ITA Airways received an expression of interest (EOI) from the same group to acquire a majority stake in the Alitalia successor and have requested 90 days of exclusivity to work on a proposal.

Sources close to the matter told the publication that the cabinet was expected to approve of the deal, officially starting the sale process. If it is successful, it will be another win for the Draghi administration, as his predecessors tried and failed for years to offload state-controlled and loss-making Alitalia.

MSC is the world’s largest container shipping line when looking at capacity. It has found itself with money to spare following a boost to shipment fees during the pandemic. It has a fleet of about 560 container vessels and travels to over 500 ports worldwide, so it is safe to say that it is well-versed in logistics. The Group also owns MSC Cruises and has a majority stake in port management firm Terminal Investment.

However, the ecosystem of aviation is a different beast. MSC is planning on bringing in Lufthansa as an industry partner from the start. It has previously been reported that the German flag carrier was looking to take an equity stake in ITA Airways, potentially as much as 40%.

This would make ITA Airways a Lufthansa Group carrier, building on one of the major forces in European aviation. It would also increase the group’s presence in Italy, where it owns regional carrier Air Dolomiti. The formal interest declaration from MSC came in January, with the company asking for a 90-day exclusive negotiation period.