Rome — The Italian government presented a decree to start the sales process of the state-owned ITA Airways, Italian Finance Minister Daniele Franco said on Friday.
He said that "the usual procedures will be followed," meaning either a bidding process or a direct sale. ITA was officially launched last October as the successor of the insolvent Alitalia.
The company is currently fully owned by the Italian state. As Alitalia's successor, ITA has important take-off and landing rights at Rome-Fiumicino and Milan airports.
According to Franco, in the event of a sale, the government wants to retain a small share, which could then be sold later.
At the end of January the Swiss cruise line MSC and Germany's Lufthansa Group expressed interest in a joint takeover.
MSC founder Gianluigi Aponte emphasized a few days later that he wanted to have a majority stake, while Lufthansa could come in as a business partner.
The La Repubblica newspaper reported on Friday that the US airline Delta "surprisingly" entered the race for ITA.
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