The last flight – report

by Daniel Otieri
Federico Marconi collaboration
Portraits of Giovanni de Faverie, Carlos Dias, Alfredo Farina, and Paolo Palermo
Image search by Paola Gottardi
Editing by Andrea Masella
Illustrations by Michel Ventron

Lufthansa, the German giant of the skies, will buy ITA Airways, Cinderella born from the ashes of Alitalia and controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The agreement was signed on May 16 with a handshake between the Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, and Lufthansa Managing Director Carsten Spohr. Apart from the capital increase being fully covered by the Italian state, the bid expects Lufthansa to pay €325 million to acquire 41% of ITA. All this with the expectation of reaching 2026 by purchasing more than 90% of the company. But how did this conclusion arise? Did the Italian state, and thus the taxpayer, gain or lose from the Lufthansa operation? And above all since the start of 2022, has anyone within ITA favored the German company over other potential buyers? The report will reveal details of a spy story that began in January 2022, when Lufthansa along with MSC, the leading ship-to-cargo business, made their first bid, the details of which have so far remained unpublished. From that moment on, an industrial battle raged, which hid a geopolitical clash between France under President Emmanuel Macron and Germany under Chancellor Olaf Scholz for control of a strategic carrier in European air transport. A series of internal and unpublished documents reveal attempts to pressure Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the majority into supporting the German consortium, but also ITA Airways’ insane expenditures for financial advisors and those of former chief Altavilla.

Report 21.20 Rai3