sorry EAM,
it seems to me that you are contraddicting yourself.
In one post you say that LH do not need to create a new company LH Italia.
In the next post you say that they need an italian AOC to operate certain routes if the expansion plan goes that way.
I believe that if LH management wants an italian AOC there must be some operational reason behind it, like those you just mentioned.
I heard that LH is grounding quite a few aircraft in Germany, 25 or so, this winter.
I believe that the creation of LH Italia will help LH to transfer some of the extra capacity into the Italian market, to avoid having an extra 6 a/c on the ground in Germany.
So LH Italia is not actually taking any active aircraft from LH mainline, but it is simply helping to transfer some extra capacity to a different market.
If there is no job or salary cut in the LH group I cannot see this as stealing jobs. Or do you actually believe that if LH Italia would have not been created the situation in LH mainline would be better, with more promotions and job openings?
If LH wants to enter the Italian market with an Italian AOC, they do need to be an equal opportunity employer by EU law. I do not believe that restricting the applications to German-speakers only would be welcome by the local government, or by the Italian CAA.
As I said before, I totally agree that the LH pilots should fight for those jobs created by their company if there is any redundancies or salary cuts planned for them.
Otherwise, if they are just looking to get those jobs because the LH mainline is suffering of over-capacity, thus reducing the job prospect for new cadets and not promoting first officers, I would not agree with them.
Ricky