Trending in March

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.

Trending in March

The following are the ten most read articles on EX-YU Aviation News throughout March according to accumulated statistics.

1. Air Serbia unveils special livery on new A330
2. Ryanair to open Zagreb base, launch twelve routes

3. Air Serbia to take delivery of A330-200 jet

4. LOT plans first inter-EX-YU flights

5. Ryanair charts EX-YU return with new routes and base

6. Slovenia drops national airline plans, enters talks with Air Serbia
7. Local start-ups prepare for launch
8. Croatia Airlines removes thirteen routes for upcoming summer

9. Air Serbia to roll out new product on latest A330 jet

10. Air Serbia removes eleven routes from upcoming summer

The five most read premium articles in March:

1. Air Serbia’s busiest Zagreb transfer routes

2. Zagreb Airport’s busiest routes in 2020

3. Belgrade Airport's busiest unserved Middle East markets

4. Air Serbia among Ljubljana's busiest transfer airlines

5. Sarajevo Airport’s top unserved routes

The most popular vintage photo published in March and of all time:

Belgrade Airport, 1970s

The most visitors by country:

1. Serbia
2. Slovenia

3. Croatia

4. United States
5. United Kingdom
6. Germany

7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
8. Canada

9. Switzerland

10. Macedonia
11. Netherlands

12. Australia
13. Montenegro

14. Austria
15. Sweden

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Anonymous13:59
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