NO RISK FOR MALPENSA Today's announcement by Lufthansa Group represents the culmination of a journey that has been complicated by the impacts of the economic crisis on the aviation industry and the subject of talks between SEA and Lufthansa over recent months. In relation to Lufthansa's decision to adopt a new strategy for Italy, SEA makes the following points:Lufthansa Italia represents only one of 110 carriers present at Malpensa airport.The destinations currently served by Lufthansa Italia are already covered by one or more other carriers, which also have higher occupation rates. The destinations reached directly from Malpensa today number 180, of which 97 extra-EU.In 2010 Lufthansa Italia represented around 3% of group turnover, carrying around 1.2 million of the 18.7 million passengers for the year.  This volume can easily be absorbed by other carriers operating the same routes without requiring any particular change in SEA's commercial strategy.In the last 3 years 38 new carriers have begun operations out of Malpensa offering 42 new connections of which 21 intercontinental, confirming the appeal of the airport's catchment area.  Among the new routes recently activated are Seoul, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Beijing, Addis Ababa, which have immediately shown high occupation rates even in premium segments with higher average yields (average unit income per passenger) than other major European airports.In the first four months of 2011 Malpensa grew by 9% in passengers carried and by over 12% in cargo transportation. SEA will continue to pursue its existing growth plans which include the hub model option in the medium-long term. The innovative ViaMilano project is designed to further this end, connecting two or more routes operated by different airlines for around 2,000 possible travel combinations and permutations.SEA Group's business model is based on multiple competing carriers in both passenger and cargo transport and today remains a winning strategy. Introduced following the de-hubbing of Alitalia—which led to the immediate loss of more than 10 million passengers at Malpensa, today largely recovered—the strategy has enabled SEA to anticipate market trends and operate to full capacity independent of the decisions of individual carriers.