ITA expects higher full-year revenue as it prepares to join Lufthansa group

By Giancarlo Navach

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's ITA Airways said on Friday it expects passenger revenue to increase by a quarter in 2024 from last year as it flies with fuller planes, after core profit turned positive in the first half.

The Italian state-controlled carrier, which is soon to enter the Lufthansa group, expects full-year sales to hit 2.7 billion euros ($3.02 billion), with its load factor set to rise above 80% from 79% currently, CFO Claudio Faggiani said.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) turned positive, at 62 million euros, and cash reserves edged up to 393 million euros.

Revenue rose to 1.4 billion euros in the first half of the year on a 26% jump in passenger numbers to 8.3 million.

"The cash allows the company to support the investment plan, which has more than doubled compared to the previous year," Turicchi told reporters in Milan.

Germany's Lufthansa received the green light in July to take a 41% stake in ITA for 325 million euros, after a long negotiation with Brussels which involved ceding routes and slots to rivals to address competition concerns.

Turicchi said the company was confident of closing the deal by the Nov. 4 deadline.

The conditions attached to the EU's approval raised fears that ITA - which took to the air in 2021 replacing bankrupt Alitalia - may lose interest in investing in Milan's Linate airport to the benefit of Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Talking at a news conference at the company's new headquarters in Milan, ITA director general Andrea Benassi denied this, saying Linate remains "strategic" and the airline continued to invest in the hub.

He added that ITA will have to release a total of 30 slots at Linate, which account for only 1% of the company's overall turnover and which won't have a significant impact on the business.

($1 = 0.8945 euros)

(Writing by Angelo Amante, editing by Giulia Segreti, Kirsten Donovan)