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From left: Juichi Hirasawa, CEO and president of All Nippon Airways; Carsten Spohr, CEO of the Lufthansa Group; and Joerg Eberhart, CEO of ITA Airways.
ITA Airways will join the Lufthansa Group-All Nippon Airways (ANA) joint venture covering Europe-Japan services from this fall, marking another step in the Italian carrier’s integration into the Lufthansa Group.
The agreement, signed at the IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, will bring ITA into the immunized joint venture that already includes ANA, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Swiss. The partnership, established in 2012, coordinates schedules, commercial activities and product offerings between Europe and Japan and now encompasses approximately 160 long-haul flights per week.
Under the expanded joint venture, ITA’s Rome Fiumicino-Tokyo Haneda service and wider European network—including domestic Italian routes and services to North Africa—will be incorporated into the partnership.
“This agreement represents a key milestone in the international development of ITA Airways and further strengthens the airline’s connectivity to the Asia-Pacific region, an area of major strategic importance,” ITA Airways CEO Joerg Eberhart says.
The move follows a series of integration steps since Lufthansa acquired a 41% stake in ITA in January 2025. In April this year, ITA formally joined Star Alliance and has since migrated to Lufthansa Group's Miles & More loyalty program and digital platforms. In May, Lufthansa also confirmed it intends to exercise its option to increase its stake in ITA to 90%, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2027.
According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, ITA currently operates daily Airbus A350-900 service between Rome Fiumicino and Tokyo Haneda, offering almost 4,500 two-way seats. ANA serves the market with Boeing 787-9 aircraft, providing about 1,300 two-way seats between Japan and Italy through its Tokyo Haneda-Milan Malpensa route. Together, they are currently the only airlines offering nonstop service between Italy and Japan.
From this fall, customers of ANA, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Swiss will be able to book ITA's Rome-Tokyo flights and combine them with services across the broader networks of the participating carriers. The arrangement will also provide ITA passengers with access to ANA's domestic Japanese network beyond Tokyo.
Speaking to ATW earlier this year, Eberhart said ITA had reduced costs by joining Lufthansa's global distribution agreement and had gained access to the group’s slot portfolio, allowing it to optimize operations and redeploy aircraft more effectively.
“Before, as competitors between Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, we flew wing-to-wing,” he said. “Now, we are now avoiding overnights, which cost a 4% to 5% margin on short-range flights.”
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