Lufthansa's Risky Italy Bet Hinges On Rome Airport Expansion

Lufthansa's long-promised turnaround of Italy's ITA Airways, crucial to help revive the German airline's fortunes, is interlinked with Rome airport Fiumicino's ability to implement an ambitious expansion plan, Angelo Amante, Joanna Plucinska, and Ilona Wissenbach reported for Reuters.

Some analysts are questioning Lufthansa's having hinged its turnaround of ITA Airways on the expansion of Fiumicino.

Struggling with high costs and prolonged delays in Boeing plane deliveries, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said on October 1 that investing in further international growth—which includes the agreed purchase of a 41% stake in Alitalia successor ITA—would help to revamp the hard-hit Cologne-based carrier.

Yet, ITA's prospects are closely tied to those of Rome's main airport.

Fiumicino is still waiting for clearance from the Italian airport regulator ENAC to double its capacity to 100 million passengers annually by building a third terminal and more runway space.

"One of the reasons that further pushed us to invest in ITA Airways was the quality of Fiumicino. It is one of the few airports in Europe that has capacity for growth, both in terms of terminals and runways," Spohr, who sees the airport as a gateway to Africa and Latin America, said in July.

Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) is owned by infrastructure group Mundys, controlled by the Italian Benetton family and equity firm Blackstone. The airport manager submitted an 8-billion-euro development plan for Fiumicino to ENAC in 2021, which is still assessing it.

Some analysts are questioning Lufthansa's focus on Fiumicino: "They have identified Rome as a hub for Latin America. But ITA is not as ideally positioned as (Portugal's) TAP or (Spain's) Air Europa," said Ruxandra Haradau-Doser from HSBC.