Lufthansa hopes to develop Rome Fiumicino as a southern hub for the group and will focus on long-haul flights from the Italian airport to Northern and Latin America, group slides said on Friday. Lufthansa will buy a 41% stake in ITA Airways, the successor of former flagship carrier Alitalia, through a 325 million euro ($357.76 million) capital increase and is aiming to take full control of the airline in the future.

"We will also build on ITA's established strength on routes to Asia, Northern Africa and the Middle East," Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told. Shares in Lufthansa were down 0.2% on Friday, a day after the airline and the Italian Treasury announced the ITA deal. A report says some 43 million people travelled through Rome Fiumicino in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, and the airport has potential to become an even stronger hub for the Mediterranean area.