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Lufthansa and ITA Airways announced today that the Italian carrier officially exited the SkyTeam alliance today, February 3rd. ITA Airways plans to join Star Alliance, but this will not occur until the first half of 2026.
In addition to changing alliances, ITA Airways is doing lots to align with Lufthansa. This includes everything from mileage earning and redemptions, reciprocal lounge access, codeshare flights, and more.
Mileage Earning and Redemptions
Miles & More members to earn and redeem miles on ITA Airways flights as well as letting Volare members earn and redeem points on flights operated by Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines.
Shifting Terminals in Frankfurt and Munich
ITA Airways is moving its physical location at both Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and Munich International Airport (MUC). The airline will shift into Terminal 1 in Frankfurt and into Terminal 2 in Munich. This will allow for easier connections and shared facilities with Lufthansa in its two largest hubs.
Reciprocal Lounge Access
Beginning on March 30th, eligible Lufthansa and ITA Airways passengers will have access to the lounges operated across both airlines. This means that ITA Airways passengers will see approximately 130 lounges of the Lufthansa Group and its partners open to them. Lufthansa passengers will also be able to use the lounges that ITA Airways runs.
Codesharing
By adding ITA Airways flights to the route networks of Lufthansa Group Airlines, customers will see more than 100 flight connections this summer. These will initially share their flight numbers as codeshares and make it possible to combine flights of different airlines into a single booking. Once fully implemented, these codeshares will give ITA Airways passengers access to over 250 destinations of the Lufthansa Group.
Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said:
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.”
Anthony’s Take: I’m excited for ITA Airways to be fully rolled into Star Alliance and the Lufthansa Group. Star Alliance has the greatest network across Europe and this addition will add great options within Italy and across Europe.
(Image Credits: ITA Airways and Lufthansa.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
