FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Despite the extended competition review by the EU Commission, Lufthansa is sticking to its investment in the Italian state airline Ita. The MDax group announced on Tuesday that it would continue to press for a speedy conclusion of the review and the subsequent implementation of the investment. It is still assuming that the transaction will be approved.

According to Lufthansa, Ita Airways should become a complementary and important part of the Lufthansa Group. Europe's highest-revenue aviation group already operates several hubs with the four network airlines Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels. Lufthansa is convinced that an investment in Ita would have an overall positive effect on competition in Italy and Europe.

For the time being, the EU competition authorities have refused Lufthansa's planned participation in Ita and have launched an in-depth investigation into the consequences under competition law. A preliminary investigation has shown that the merger could reduce competition on some short and long-haul routes, the EU Commission announced on Tuesday. The extended merger control is limited until June 6./ceb/DP/jha