Lufthansa is rapidly absorbing Italy’s ITA Airways into its European network and will exercise an option to lift its stake in the Rome-based carrier to 90%.
ITA Airways integrated into Lufthansa Group
The German group’s holding in ITA will rise by 49% from 41% through the purchase of a second block of shares for €325 million (£274 million) next month, Lufthansa said on Tuesday. The Supervisory Board approved this decision by the Lufthansa Executive Board at its meeting yesterday.
It expects the majority acquisition to be completed in the first quarter of 2027 after European Union and U.S. approval.
The move marks a major step in Lufthansa’s rapid integration of ITA Airways into its wider European airline network, with the group already describing the Italian flag carrier as functioning as its ‘fifth network airline’ in many areas.
Lufthansa first acquired a 41% stake in ITA Airways in January 2025 under a privatisation agreement with Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Following completion of the latest transaction, the Italian state will retain the remaining 10% stake, although Lufthansa said this tranche could also be acquired in 2028.
ITA integration ahead of schedule
Carsten Spohr, CEO of the Lufthansa Group and Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said at today’s Annual General Meeting:
“Following the acquisition of the first 41 percent stake in ITA Airways last year, we promised the fastest airline integration in our history. We aimed to complete all major integration steps into the Lufthansa Group within just 18 months.
We have not only kept this promise. We were even faster: All customer-facing interfaces are already integrated today—with the exception of North Atlantic flights, where, as is well known, regulatory approval for our merger is still pending.
Passengers already experience ITA Airways as an integrated part of the Lufthansa Group. With unified booking, sales, and fare systems, the Miles and More frequent flyer program, Star Alliance membership, and access to our global network of premium lounges.
Integration is also progressing in the cargo business. Since last year, Lufthansa Cargo has been marketing ITA Airways’ cargo capacity, which alone corresponds to the additional capacity of three Boeing 777 freighters. In light of this success story, we decided to exercise our option to acquire an additional 49 percent stake as early as June of this year.”
Lufthansa’s share price was up by 2% early in the afternoon in Europe.
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