Kuwait Airways to launch Sarajevo service

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

Italy to sell ITA in June

Italy's government aims to sell state-owned ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia, by the end of June after setting a deadline for binding offers of May 23, Economy Minister Daniele Franco said. Three prospective bidders for ITA Airways have had access to its finance data room, Franco said addressing parliament over the issue. They are shipping group MSC alongside Germany's Lufthansa, the U.S. Certares fund in cooperation with Delta and Air France, and investor Indigo Partners, Franco added. Under a government decree, Rome plans to privatise ITA through a direct sale while retaining a minority, non-controlling stake in a first stage. MSC in January requested an exclusivity period of 90 days to iron out details of an acquisition, but Rome opted for a market-based procedure aimed at keeping the door open to other potential suitors. "The outcome of the negotiations is not a foregone conclusion. We will examine the three offers in a transparent way, there is no decision on our part at present", Franco said adding a key factor is that the buyer is at least 51% owned by a European player. Lufthansa is interested in taking a minority stake in ITA, leaving the majority to MSC, the airline said in remarks during its shareholders meeting. It added, however, that the review of ITA's financial data would be important to confirm this preliminary intention. If the deal does go through, Lufthansa aims to build a close commercial cooperation with ITA and expects synergies to make the investment profitable in the long term, the carrier said. Under an agreement with the European Union, Rome can inject up to 1.35 billion euros into the ITA by 2023. A privatisation deal would potentially reduce the financial support granted by the state, limiting the costs for Italian taxpayers.

Kuwait Airways to launch Sarajevo service

NEWS FLASH

Kuwait Airways will commence seasonal summer flights between Kuwait City and Sarajevo from June 9. The nonstop service will run until September 12 each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with an Airbus A320 aircraft. It will mark Kuwait Airways’ return to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital for the first time since it last maintained seasonal operations to the city in 2013, albeit via Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Kuwait Airways will compete directly against FlyBosnia on the route, which plans to run two weekly flights between the two this summer. Kuwait Airways has put tickets on sale, with further flight details available here.

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Anonymous09:26
Didn't see that one coming! Good, good.
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Anonymous10:28
Big win for Bosnia!
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Kuwait Airways to launch Sarajevo service

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