Luxair announces that on 28 April 2025, it has filed a legal challenge before the General Court of the European Union against the European Commission’s decision approving the merger between Lufthansa and ITA. Luxair emphasizes that it has no objection to the merger itself. For the sake of clarity, the legal action is not directed against Lufthansa or ITA.
In merger procedures, the European Commission identifies competition concerns and may approve a merger if appropriate remedies are offered. In the case of the Lufthansa/ITA merger, the Commission found competition issues on certain short-haul routes and at Milan Linate airport. The merger was approved after Lufthansa and ITA proposed remedies addressing these points.
Luxair’s action focuses on a specific condition of the European Commission’s approval. Particularly, Luxair disputes the condition that all slots released by Lufthansa and ITA at Milan Linate were allocated to a single airline, i.e. the one undertaking remedies on the problematic short-haul routes. Luxair maintains that the competition problems at Milan Linate and those on the identified short haul routes are distinct and unrelated issues.
Accordingly, Luxair argues there is no justification for linking these problems and granting all benefits exclusively to one airline, effectively excluding smaller regional airlines such as Luxair from fair competition.
