EasyJet wants more Milan slots if ITA links with Lufthansa - paper

EasyJet would want more slots at Milan’s Linate airport should carrier ITA team up with Germany’s Lufthansa, the CE of the British carrier said, indicating the airline’s commitment to Italy. “We want to expand. If ITA goes (to Lufthansa) then Linate will increase the flights towards Frankfurt and Munich,” easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren was quoted as saying in daily Il Sole 24 Ore on Thursday. “ITA should give up some slots and it would be an opportunity for easyJet to have more in order to increase connections from Milan to Europe’s capitals, ” he added. EasyJet, the second largest airline in Italy by number of passengers, came through the pandemic by cutting costs, bolstering its balance sheet and switching capacity to its busiest routes. Last week the Italian government launched the process to find a partner for ITA Airways, the state-owned successor to Alitalia which started flying in October.<br/>