Francesca Landini & Giulia Sereti

ROME (Reuters) – MSC, a shipping company based in Switzerland and Lufthansa are interested in purchasing the majority of ITA Airways’ successor to Alitalia. They have requested a 90-day exclusivity period to review the offer. MSC and ITA stated on Monday.

According to its chairman, the state-owned airline began flights in October 2013 and is currently looking for an equity partner.

MSC stated that ITA’s interest stemmed from the possibility of activating positive combinations… in both the cargo sector and in the passenger sector.

If the Italian government grants its permission, the board at ITA Airways will look into details regarding the expressions of interest during a future meeting, and then decide whether to initiate exclusive talks with these two partners. A source close to this matter confirmed that.

January 31 is the date for a board meeting to discuss and approve the ITA business plan.

MSC and Lufthansa, after reviewing financial data from the Italian airline, will determine their roles in the agreement.

Alfredo Altavilla, Chairman of ITA said last week that the carrier had a negative operating results of 170 millions euros. While revenues were lower than expected, at 86 million euro, the company could still count on over 400 million euros of cash from Italian tax payers.

SOLID PARTNERS

First reaction of workers was that of flight attendants, pilots union FNTA stated that MSC’s interest in the future of small carrier is positive.

They were “two very solid partners” who can guarantee future growth of ITA, FNTA stated in a statement.

Two sources confirmed to Reuters that Lufthansa had been in discussions with ITA Airways for the purchase of 40%.

Alitalia, a troubled airline, tried unsuccessfully to form an alliance with Air France in the past, and more recently with Ethiad of Arab Emirates.

It is a key market for Lufthansa, and therefore it makes sense for them to seek commercial opportunities in Italy. A tie-up can come with risks.

According to Ruxandra Haradau Doser, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, Italy is “perhaps the most difficult European market to make money”: There are numerous fast trains connections to Italy and low-cost airlines like Ryanair and Wizz dominate air traffic to the island.

(Additional reporting Ilona wissenbach; Editing done by Valentina Za and Barbara Lewis.