FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" on Lufthansa and ITA:

"Europe's largest airline group may become even larger through an acquisition - and is getting the blessing of competition regulators to do so. The approval for Lufthansa to acquire the Italian airline ITA, albeit under certain conditions, may seem irritating at first. But this is only the case at first glance. The approval was almost inevitable. Lufthansa's entry was the last chance to find a European solution for the international transport connections of one of the continent's largest economies. Otherwise, the long-term existence of ITA would have been uncertain and, in the worst case, Italy would have become dependent on the goodwill of non-European, partly state-owned airlines for its direct flight network."/DP/jha