Luxair Challenges EU Commission's Decision on Lufthansa-ITA Merger

On Wednesday 21 May 2025, Luxair announced that it recently challenged the decision of the European Commission on the merger between Lufthansa and ITA.

Luxair reported that, on Monday 28 April 2025, it filed a legal challenge before the General Court of the European Union against the European Commission's decision approving the Lufthansa-ITA merger.

Luxair clarified that it does not object to the merger itself; the legal action is not directed against Lufthansa or ITA.

The airline explained that, 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 noted that its legal action focuses on a specific condition of the European Commission's approval. Particularly, Luxair is disputing 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 has maintained that the competition problems at Milan Linate and those on the identified short-haul routes are distinct and unrelated issues.

As such, Luxair has argued 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.