Lufthansa’s ITA Airways takeover is finally done and concluded. The German flag carrier and the group it controls finally have their hands on a 41% stake of Italian flag carrier ITA Airways’ equity. The Italian ministry of finance still holds the remaining 59%, but Lufthansa will be calling most of the shots. Let’s get straight to the point. Which are the challenges Lufthansa and ITA Airways must win and or overcome to make this synergy a successful one?
Make ITA Airways An Attractive Proposition for Transit Passengers
I don’t know what is talked about in the decision rooms, of course, but I have the feeling this has been a focus point for the new Italian flag carrier since day one. The carrier’s operations have slowly shifted to a more transit optimized model. What I mean is that, while in the Alitalia era the Italian carrier didn’t care at alla about trying to offer convenient transits via Fiumicino, at least now they are making an active effort. You can see more long haul flights arriving just before medium and short haul services depart. Yeah I know, it should be the norm but somehow in prior to ITA era this was advanced rocket science. There is still a lot to be done but at least we’re pointing in the right direction.
A lot remains to be done particularly if Lufthansa, as seems, wants to put ITA Airways in direct competition with IAG’s Iberia on the South American market. More work will have to go into optimizing and synchronizing long haul arrivals with European flight departures. Rome Fiumicino is now capable of handling this traffic and therefore it is just a matter of getting it done.
Make of ITA a Pseudo Air France – Let Me Explain What I Mean
Another focus area is leveraging Italy as a brand. Italy is intuitively associated with luxury and fine food. However, Alitalia never really managed to leverage this to its fullest. Italy attracts tourists by the millions year in and year out. This traveller segment has been expertly intercepted by Air France, which thrived where Alitalia miserably failed. Therefore I mean that ITA Airways has to learn from its French counterpart and start taking back big chunks of Italy-bound tourist market shares. In essence ITA needs to be to Italy what Air France has been for decades to France.
Lufthansa will need to build upon what ITA Airways has done since its launch in terms of brand identity and brand recognition. It’s not simple, of course, nothing is. Intercepting a larger market share means eating in to someone else’s traffic and big fish in the aviation pond will not just sit idle and watch the new kid on the block take over hard earned traffic.
So eyes peeled and let’s catch up in a couple of months to see what progress has been made in these respects.