Italia Trasporto Aereo S.p.A., Italy’s national airline owned by the Italian government and operating under the name ITA Airways, has formally left the SkyTeam alliance and joined Star Alliance as part of its acquisition process by the Lufthansa Group.
Established in 2020, ITA Airways emerged as the successor to the defunct Alitalia and is currently offers services to more than 70 scheduled destinations, encompassing domestic, European, and intercontinental routes from its primary hub located at Rome Fiumicino Airport and secondary hub at Linate Airport in Milan.
And now the integration of ITA Airways into the Lufthansa Group has commenced.
At a press conference in Rome, Carsten Spohr, the CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, along with Sandro Pappalardo, Chairman of ITA Airways, and Joerg Eberhart, CEO of ITA Airways, announced the first changes and upgrades that would benefiting airline customers.
“We want to push ahead with the merger quickly, so that ITA and its passengers, as well as the guests of our other passenger airlines, can quickly benefit from the advantages of an expanded Lufthansa Group,” CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced.
First and most significant step in the transition takes place today, February 3, 2025, when members of the Lufthansa Group’s Miles and More frequent flyer program will gain the opportunity to earn and redeem miles on flights operated by ITA Airways.
Effective immediately, 36 million members of the Lufthansa’s Miles & More program can now earn and redeem miles on all flights operated by ITA Airways. At the same time, the 2.7 million members of ITA Airways’ frequent flyer program, Volare, are now able to earn and redeem their points on all flights operated by Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines.
With the commencement of the summer flight schedule on March 30, 2025, travelers with ITA Airways and the Lufthansa Group will benefit from several enhancements:
Unified terminal experience in Frankfurt and Munich: The utilization of the same terminal is crucial for ensuring efficient and seamless transfers at the Lufthansa Group’s main hubs. Beginning with the upcoming summer flight schedule, ITA Airways will relocate to the Lufthansa Airlines terminals in both Frankfurt and Munich—specifically, Terminal 1 in Frankfurt and Terminal 2 in Munich. This transition will notably decrease transfer times for passengers. Additionally, at all other group hubs, as well as in Rome-Fiumicino and Milan-Linate, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group already operate within the same terminal areas as ITA Airways.
Effective March 30, ITA Airways passengers will also gain full access to approximately 130 lounges operated by the Lufthansa Group and its partners during their travels. Conversely, ITA Airways lounges will also become fully accessible to passengers of the Lufthansa Group on this date.
By incorporating ITA Airways flights into the route networks of Lufthansa Group Airlines, customers will benefit from enhanced options and increased flexibility. With the commencement of the summer flight schedule, over 100 flight connections will initially share flight numbers, facilitating easier combinations. These code-sharing arrangements enable the integration of flights from various airlines within the group into a single booking. Once fully operational, this code-sharing will provide ITA Airways passengers with access to more than 250 destinations within the Lufthansa Group. Additionally, Lufthansa Group airline passengers will have the opportunity to book ITA Airways domestic flights to Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, and Puglia. All codeshare connections will be available for booking starting from February 25 through various global sales channels, including online platforms and the Lufthansa Group and ITA Airways applications.
The flight connections between the hubs of the Lufthansa Group (Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, and Brussels) and ITA Airways’ primary airports (Rome and Milan) have been optimized and are now better distributed throughout the day, offering travelers greater flexibility. Coordinated departure times will result in reduced waiting periods and improved connections to long-haul flights.
In the future, ITA Airways passengers will also gain access to the full range of benefits offered by the Lufthansa Group. The airline’s entry into Star Alliance, the largest global aviation alliance, is pivotal to this development. Preparations for this transition are already underway, with ITA Airways’ official membership in Star Alliance anticipated in the first half of 2026. Consequently, ITA Airways has initiated its exit from the SkyTeam alliance.
Furthermore, the collaboration between ITA Airways and Lufthansa Cargo is set to be rapidly enhanced in the airfreight sector. Initial joint offerings for freight customers will be available on select routes as early as the upcoming summer season.
Carsten Spohr, the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, stated: “Now that ITA Airways has become a member of our airline family a few days ago, we want to push ahead with the merger quickly, so that ITA and its passengers, as well as the guests of our other passenger airlines, can quickly benefit from the advantages of an expanded Lufthansa Group. We are also confident that ITA Airways will realize a profit as early as this year. All in all, we are convinced that today, the start of the integration of ITA Airways into the Lufthansa Group, marks the beginning of a joint success story for customers, employees and shareholders of ITA Airways and the Lufthansa Group.”