Lufthansa Italia consolidates its position at Milan Malpensa

Lufthansa Italia this month announced plans to launch frequent (up to daily) services from Milan's Malpensa Airport to Catania (Sicily) and Prague from 01-Nov-2010, using A319s. These are not easy routes on which to win business with considerably more offered on the Catania route from Alitalia's Air One subsidiary, Windjet and easyJet, and to Prague from CSA and easyJet. Less than two years after Lufthansa's interest in taking over the ailing Alitalia fizzled out when Air France purchased a stake, prompting Lufthansa to set up its own new brand, Lufthansa Italia, at Milan, what are the prospects now for Lufthansa's first new airline that it had set up in a foreign market?