According to insiders, Lufthansa has made further concessions in return for the green light from the EU Commission to acquire a stake in the Italian state airline ITA Airways.

To ensure that competition on transatlantic routes from Rome does not suffer as a result of the merger, two competitors are to offer feeder flights from the Italian capital's airport to hubs of Lufthansa's competitors in Europe, according to insiders. Passengers could then, for example, transfer in Amsterdam to US flights operated by Dutch airline KLM. A person familiar with the matter told the news agency Reuters on Monday that there is another Lufthansa competitor that could provide more choice. ITA is also handing over direct flights from Rome-Fiumicino Airport to North America to another airline.

Lufthansa did not want to comment on details. Good and constructive talks are underway with the EU Commission, said a spokesperson. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is leaning towards approving Lufthansa's purchase of an initial 41 percent of ITA after a long struggle over the competition requirements, as Reuters learned from insiders last week. In the longer term, the Alitalia successor is to become fully part of the Lufthansa Group. With these conditions, the EU wants to prevent the merger from leading to fewer services and higher ticket prices to the detriment of consumers. The official decision is to be made by July 4.

(Report by Foo Yun Chee, Ilona Wissenbach. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)