The acting Italian government wants to complete the sale of Ita Airways before the new elections. The previous bidders were now asked to improve their offers, since the previous bids had been classified as insufficient.

So far, the MSC/Lufthansa consortium has been traded as the one with the best chances. However, Certares/Air France-KLM/Delta do not want to let the Italian carrier be snatched away. Only recently is one approached the responsible ministry with an improved offer. This apparently caused the government to prompt all bidders to quickly submit improved offers. The winner will be announced within ten days of the deadline, Finance Minister Daniele Franco said at a press conference.

“Neither of the two proposals received for the ITA fully meets the requirements of the Prime Minister's office. For this reason, in the shortest possible time, within a few days, they will be asked to formulate further proposals and to reply in the shortest possible time," said the member of the government. “The objectives of the operation are to maximize the value that will be owned by the state, but also a range of other objectives, from governance to industrial structure to the use and size of the hubs. It's about making an overall assessment."

Acting Prime Minister Mario Draghi has repeatedly made it clear that he wants to sell Ita Airways and not leave it to the successor government. Therefore, the topic has now gained momentum again. Shortly before, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr said that the patience of the group he manages should “not be infinite”.

Should the MSC/Lufthansa consortium not be awarded the contract, he can imagine expanding under his own steam with the help of the existing Italian subsidiary Air Dolomiti. This could mean that you want to compete with Ita Airways. This is not the first attempt by the Kranich Group, because a few years ago Lufthansa Italia wanted to declare war on the then Alitalia. The project was not crowned with success and was then quietly and secretly discontinued. At that time, the operational execution of the flights was the responsibility of the subsidiary Germanwings.