The German airline "Lufthansa" and the Italian Ministry of Finance have signed a memorandum for the purchase of a minority stake in the Italian airline "ITA Airways", the Italian news agency "Ansa" reports, the Camatica portal reported.

Lufthansa is on the verge of taking over the Italian state airline According to unofficial sources, Lufthansa should allocate between 250 and 300 million euros for 40 percent of the shares in the company. Sources referred to by the agency, among other things, explain that the ultimate goal of the current negotiations is to sign the purchase agreement as soon as possible. This is the basis for obtaining consent from the European Commission.

Lufthansa should thus come under the ownership of the Italian airline by the summer. According to the explanations of "Ansa" sources, the Italian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni wants "ITA Airways" as soon as possible to enjoy the "synergistic effects" that joining the Lufthansa group will bring. The European Commission is expected to approve the acquisition of a minority stake in the company. A different scenario would not be possible because the commission itself requested the sale of the airline from Italy, "Ansa" reports.

Fears that the company would only become a base for transporting passengers to Lufthansa's Frankfurt and Munich hubs also do not exist, Ansa sources said, adding that direct long-haul flights would continue to operate. The German carrier, which includes Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines, explained in mid-January that it wanted to create a key European hub in Rome and would offer direct flights to Rome from the US. As they pointed out, they would initially buy a minority share, and in the future they would have the option to buy the remaining shares as well.