Lufthansa has held talks to take a majority stake in ailing Alitalia and would be interested in a full takeover in the long run, Lufthansa board member Harry Hohmeister said Monday. Alitalia, which was put under special administration in 2017, would remain operationally independent within the Lufthansa group, with its own brand, he said. Lufthansa has been a key player in hectic M&A activity in the industry, snapping up Brussels Airlines and parts of insolvent Air Berlin in 2017. "We are fighting for the Italian market and that includes Alitalia," Hohmeister said, adding the group's tough conditions for a takeover remained unchanged. Lufthansa is only prepared to buy in if Alitalia first undergoes a major round of job cuts under state administration and if it gets full control without co-ownership by the Italian govt. <br/>
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Responding to growth in the Asian travel and mobility digitalization market, the Lufthansa Group opened a Lufthansa Innovation Hub (LIH) office Jan 28 in Singapore, its first outside Berlin. “Asia is far advanced and developed in these technologies compared to Europe, in areas like payment solutions, B2B servicing, etc.,” Lufthansa Group Airlines VP-sales Asia-Pacific Alain Chisari said. “By having a presence here, we hope to bring it into the Lufthansa Group.” Asia accounted for around 59% of the US$43.9b invested globally in the travel and mobility tech market in 2018, Lufthansa said. Half of the 34 travel tech “unicorns”—privately held start-ups valued at over $1b—are based in Asia. LIH is in discussions with Singapore’s Changi Airport and Munich Airport Terminal 2 as potential partners for the test projects. <br/>
Munich Airport is set to continue its hub development as Lufthansa plans to use the airport as its hub for flights to Asia, airport president and CE Michael Kerkloh said. “The first phase of that strategy becomes live this summer with the opening of new Munich-Osaka Kansai [Japan] services. This route will be transferred from Frankfurt to Munich,” Kerkloh said. Additional new Lufthansa services from Munich to Asia include flights to Bangkok as well as more frequencies to Singapore and Seoul. “Important for our hub was the successful implementation of Lufthansa’s A380s. The current A380 destinations show, [despite] the large size of the aircraft, that load factors are very good,” Kerkloh said. “Lufthansa has hinted in 2020 it wants to relocate 2 more A380s to Munich, but that is not yet fixed.” <br/>
Boeing is close to a deal worth US$3.5b at list prices to sell 30 Boeing 737 MAX jetliners to ANA Holdings, 2 people familiar with the matter said. The deal is the first sale in Japan for the newest version of Boeing's best-selling 737 family and marks a reversal for Airbus, 5 years after the same airline became the first Japanese carrier to pick the competing A320neo. It also coincides with negotiations between Washington and Tokyo over a potential trade pact, with Japan facing pressure from US president Donald Trump's administration to cut its trade surplus with the US. A deal announcement could come as early as Tuesday, subject to the airline's final approval, the sources said. Boeing declined to comment. ANA could not immediately be reached for comment. <br/>