For Lufthansa, the countdown is underway in the planned acquisition of the Italian airline ITA, with Didier Reynders at the center of the action. Reynders, who took over the responsibility for EU competition policy from Margrethe Vestager in the EU Commission last fall, has been involved in pre-negotiations for the deal for months. He is likely to decide whether the transaction between the German and Italian airlines will proceed and under what conditions. The fact that Vestager has resumed her position, after not succeeding at the European Investment Bank, is unlikely to change this.

The acquisition in Italy is certainly not a walk in the park for Lufthansa. Shortly after Reynders stepped into Vestager's shoes, he announced stricter antitrust conditions for airline mergers in an interview. "We find that some compensatory measures are not effective," said the former Belgian Deputy Prime Minister. This particularly applies to the surrender of takeoff and landing rights, which has been the most common condition in merger control procedures in the aviation sector. According to Reynders, the EU Commission could, in the future, demand the transfer of assets to competitors – such as aircraft, cargo divisions, or contracts with handling service providers. The mere thought of such demands is likely to make some airline managers break into a sweat. Reynders has been the Commissioner for Justice in the EU Commission since 2019 and led both departments for several months. Before joining the Commission, the 65-year-old jurist served as the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance.

Lufthansa officially submitted the ITA deal for review in early December, and the initial evaluation phase is ongoing until Monday, January 15th. On this date, the EU Commission can either approve the acquisition with conditions or initiate a more detailed investigation. For a Phase-2 procedure, the authority would have an additional 90 days. Italian Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti expects such a Phase-2 procedure, as he recently stated. During this period, the effects of the merger on competition in European aviation will be thoroughly examined. The review does not start from scratch, as Lufthansa and the antitrust authority attempted to resolve contentious issues in tough pre-negotiations. During the preliminary negotiations, tensions reportedly escalated, as reported by "Corriere della Sera."

The EU is said to have presented demands that are deemed unacceptable by Lufthansa. Brussels apparently wants not only Lufthansa and ITA but also other subsidiaries like Brussels Airlines and Swiss to give up slots. The EU is reported to have already demanded restrictions on traffic to North America. Lufthansa management has expressed occasional frustration with Brussels' approach. Unlike the United States, where a deep consolidation has left only a few major carriers dominating the market, the European aviation industry still resembles a patchwork. Operating profitably is challenging for everyone in such a fragmented industry, as per industry insiders.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strongly criticized the European Commission before the review process, when talks in advance were described as challenging. "It is strange that the EU Commission is blocking the solution to the ITA problem," Meloni stated at the G20 summit. "The same European Commission that has been urging us for years to find a solution to the ITA problem is blocking it when we find a solution. We no longer understand and want an answer," Meloni said.

"We know this is an important case," Reynders noted after the transaction was submitted in Brussels. The EU Commission will process the case "as quickly as possible". In addition to the Lufthansa-ITA deal, competition authorities must also examine the planned complete acquisition of Air Europa by the British-Spanish airline group IAG and the participation of Air France-KLM in SAS. This will again be under the leadership of Margrethe Vestager.