Summary Lufthansa must give up Milan slots for ITA acquisition. Ryanair is uninterested in Lufthansa hub destinations. Ryanair is hesitant to grow in German market due to unfavorable conditions.
41% of Italian carrier ITA Airways is currently in the process of being bought by the Lufthansa Group . The deal was given a conditional green light by EU regulators earlier this year, and one of the conditions was that Lufthansa would have to give up a number of short-haul slots to rival airlines. It was previously reported that Lufthansa was in discussions with both Volotea and easyJet regarding these slots.
Neither of these airlines is Ryanair , but according to Italy's La Stampa, the airline isn't actually interested in these slots to start with for various reasons. Too many conditions According to aero.de , the slots on offer to airlines are around 15 take-off and landing slots at Milan Linate Airport.
This equates to 204 per week in summer and 192 per week in the winter. It is envisioned that whoever takes the slots would primarily use them to fly to the likes of Frankfurt, Munich, and Brussels. These are all Lufthansa Group strongholds meaning that with ITA in the group, there would be no competition on the routes.
Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, is reported to have told La Stampa in an interview that these slots "have constraints, are not at the right times, or are too expensive." according to Reuters . Not a surprise? It perhaps doesn't come as a huge surprise that Ryanair isn'.
