Deal done: Lufthansa buys Italy’s ITA, presumably leaving SkyTeam to join Star Alliance

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• Nick says:

  27 May27 May 05:47

  Yup, like many others, via the HfP article back in 2022, I status matched from BA EC to ITA Volare, and got their Premium elite staus. Unfortunately it expires in January 2024, so I’d be unlikely to get Star Alliance status, unless there is, maybe, some form of extension offered.

  • Joe says:

    27 May27 May 07:47

    I’m sure their apparent high number of FF is worth something to LH, so here’s hoping for extensions as locking in this ‘on paper’ high value customer to *A must be part of the plan.

• X2000traveller says:

  27 May27 May 07:23

  Notwithstanding Alitalia’s long and colorful history with state aid of various kinds, surely the hard work has been done by the Italian government who have restructured it down, including many of the high cost employment contracts and aircraft leases? So LH might well be able to turn it into a medium profitable medium distance carrier with some US and S. American routes. There were always too many longhaul routes relative to the size of the Italian market but this has now been addressed. Milan is by far the Iargest market, albeit lots of competition from FR Easyjet and … er…Eurowings on some routes. But there are plenty of gaps in their coverage….

  • Bagoly says:

    27 May27 May 07:52

    by the Italian government, or by Covid?

• Bagoly says:

  27 May27 May 07:52

  Have they repainted in the snazzy blue a rather higher proportion of their ‘planes than Lufthansa has fitted with its new Business Class?
  Or does their PR department have a way of influencing Google Image Searches?
  i.e. is the use of the photo with what was presumably the livery immediately after launch a little unfair?

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    28 May28 May 15:40

    The white ones with the ITA Airways logo on them are the ones that carry an eco message on them (unlike BA’s blue Better World plane ITA have a few in that livery). The other ones that are not in the blue livery still say Alitalia with a small ‘operated by ITA Airways’ on the door!

• Matthias says:

  27 May27 May 09:49

  I fly ITA quite regularly to LIN from both LHR and LCY and can’t fault the service or the punctuality (the clunky digital presence is another matter). You even get juice, typically from a suave older gentleman straight out of movie casting.

  Funnily enough the LCY flights are subcontracted to German Airlines (I assume an independent company) so not sure what will happen to those. Shame if they went as they are very convenient.

  From a financial perspective it was about time for ITA to go as an independent company. If I were an Italian taxpayer I’d be delighted. If I were an LH shareholder, less so, but I assume they think they’ve figured out a plan.

  • ON says:

    27 May27 May 15:04

    I have flown today LCY (08:25)-LIN….58 min delay at takeoff and 45 min delay at touchdown. Luggage issues at LCY..this meant no ITA lounge at LIN because of redoing security after passport control.Today’s flight was although operated by German Airways.

    • ON says:

      27 May27 May 15:05

      And I forgot to mention that my original flight LHR-LIN has been cancelled and reeboked from LCY.

    • CamFlyer says:

      27 May27 May 17:21

      I was on this exact flight a few weeks back, in Y. Flight was comfortable, arrival early, both LCY and LIN very efficient —exactly what I want on a short haul flight. Surprisingly, it was my first time on ITA/Alitalia, notwithstanding 20 years of business travel throughout Europe.

• Duck Ling says:

  27 May27 May 19:25

  I just don’t get how Lufthansa can be allowed to take over yet another carrier.

  I understand IAG has done the same thing in terms of merging multiple airlines but not in the way how Lufthansa Group now basically blanket covers Central Europe – Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland – and now moving south to take Italy as well.

  IAG on the other hand is much more geographically dispersed with multiple competing hubs between London, Dublin and Madrid.

  I guess this will put additional pressure on KL/AF to nab TAP and I guess it will only be time until the likes of LOT, SAS, Finnair etc find themselves being part of one of these mega groups.

  • nick695 says:

    27 May27 May 23:33

    You’re forgetting the primary country Lufty is based in which can pull the strings of the EU. That’s why it “can be allowed”

  • Marcw says:

    28 May28 May 00:15

    If no one bids for those airlines?

• zapato1060 says:

  28 May28 May 01:11

  Who remembers Alitalia’s free flights and £48 flights to NYC with the yen coupon.

  • Duck Ling says:

    28 May28 May 11:46

    I don’t remember those ones. But I do remember buying a **cough cough** ‘flash sale’ business class fare on Alitalia from BCN to LAX via FCO for £368 return.

    On the outbound we boarded the LAX flight at FCO, developed a tech issue, was delayed a few hours and reclaimed a good £250 in EU261. So return was literally about £100 in biz at the end lol.

    I flew Alitalia twice in Business Class – once the above mentioned trip and another time from to DEL via Rome from LHR – and I have to say I found the onboard experience excellent. The crew were actually hard working and I would say they had the best catering of any european carrier (provided you aren’t veg/gluten intolerant etc etc). Also, the seating was streets ahead of what BA/KL/AF were offering at the time.

• IslandDweller says:

  28 May28 May 10:09

  The LCY flights are currently subcontracted because ITA don’t yet have any planes approved for LCY. But very shortly they’re getting some Airbus A220 (was bombardier C series), so from the autumn ITA will themselves operate the LCY route.

• Bob says:

  28 May28 May 16:48

  Finnair and or LOT to IAG.

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