The sale of the airline ITA Airways will soon enter the hot phase, as the Italian Ministry of Finance is requiring potential buyers to submit formal expressions of interest, which should lead to sales negotiations.

The current schedule provides for the purchase agreement to be in place by mid-June 2022. This is reported by Reuters, citing internal sources. The Italian government wants to carry out an open sales process and recently refused a 90-day exclusivity to the the MSC/Lufthansa consortium had asked.

Some groups, including Air France-KLM and Indigo Partners, have expressed public interest. It therefore remains to be seen whether this will also be formalized within the deadline set by the Italian Ministry of Finance. ITA Airways itself obviously favors Lufthansa, because in several interviews the red carpet is literally rolled out for the Kranich Group.