Lufthansa launches Italian subsidiary Lufthansa Italia based in Milan

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the national airline and flag carrier of Germany, has started an Italian subsidiary based in Milan, Italy.

The new airline Lufthansa Italia will begin services to Milan’s Malpensa airport 4 times a day from London’s Heathrow Airport by the of March 2009.

Fares from Heathrow Airport to Milan will start from £49 one way.

Lufthansa’s new airline, which will fly under the ‘Lufthansa Italia’ brand and seek an Italian operating licence, will be based around Milan’s Malpensa airport hub.

At Milan’s Malpensa airport, Alitalia has already cut back operations sharply in an attempt to reduce costs and turn itself around.

A statement from Lufthansa said that “Lufthansa Italia would be a fully owned subsidiary – in addition to an existing Italian subsidiary, Air Dolomiti.”

The move by Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried, comes as Alitalia, the national airline and flag carrier of Italy, remains in bankruptcy protection.

The bankruptcy protection is bound to lead Alitalia to privatisation and a restructuring that will inevitably result in a significant reduction in its network, according to aviation experts.

In the statement, Lufthansa said that Lufthansa Italia would begin operations at Milan’s Malpensa airport on February 2, 2009, with a fleet of 6 aircraft.

To start with, Lufthansa’s Italian subsidiary will fly from Barcelona Airport in Spain and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Services from Brussels (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), Bucharest (Romania) and Madrid (Spain) will start in early March 2009, and from London’s Heathrow Airport and Lisbon Airport in Portugal at the end of March 2009.

Marianne Sammann, general manager of Lufthansa for the United Kingdom, said in a press release: “We will offer a frequent non-stop service between London’s Heathrow Airport and Milan with the usual Lufthansa quality.”

It may be noted that Alitalia had cancelled several services between London’s Heathrow Airport and Milan’s Linate airport recently.

In the meantime, Lufthansa is vying with its larger rival, Air France-KLM, to strike an alliance with Alitalia. Also, a group of Italian investors is seeking a foreign partner to become a minority shareholder in Alitalia.

In the statement, Lufthansa made it clear that its creation of the Lufthansa Italia brand “did not mean that it would drop efforts to form an alliance with the bankrupt Italian carrier.”