The return of the Jedi: The Italian Competition Authority opens an investigation on the merger between Alitalia and Air One
Pursuant to the special powers conferred on it by the Law Decree 347/2003 as amended by the Law Decree 134/2008, the Italian Government authorized the Alitalia/CAI merger on the basis of prevailing national interests. The Italian Competition Authority(ICA) was thus deprived of its regulatory jurisdiction on the transaction. As the merging parties were the national flag carrier, Alitalia, and one of its next competitor, Air One, the merger was likely to lead to monopoly or quasi monopoly position on many routes, and in particular on the very profitable Milan Linate (LIN) -Rome Fiumicino (FCO). Nevertheless, the Government granted a three-year antitrust immunity to the Alitalia/CAI merger. Therefore, the ICA could only impose behavioral remedies in order to mitigate the expected serious anticompetitive effects of the merger. Since the three year period of immunity expired on 3 December 2011, at the beginning of December 2011the ICA started an investigation into the Alitalia/CAI merger in