Lufthansa Group moved in May 2026 to exercise its contractual call option to raise its ITA Airways shareholding to 90 percent, with completion scheduled for June and full regulatory closing expected in the first quarter of 2027 pending EU and US sign-off. The transaction closes at the previously agreed 325 million euros and brings to substantive conclusion a process that began with Lufthansa’s initial 41 percent stake and survived multiple rounds of European Commission remedy negotiations.
Structure of the deal
The original Lufthansa-ITA agreement, signed with Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, contemplated a phased path to control. Lufthansa took an initial 41 percent stake at deal close, with a series of call options to raise the holding over time. The May 2026 move triggers the second tranche, lifting Lufthansa to 90 percent and leaving the Italian state with a 10 percent residual. Lufthansa retains the right to acquire that residual block in 2028, at which point ITA would become a wholly owned Lufthansa Group entity.
The 325 million euro price for the majority tranche reflects valuation discussions held when the original framework was set. The price has not moved with ITA’s operational improvement or with broader changes in the European airline market — a feature of the option structure rather than a current valuation.
Star Alliance and Miles & More
The commercial integration moved faster than the equity stake. ITA Airways acceded formally to Star Alliance on 31 March 2026, joining Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and the wider Star network. From April 2026 ITA frequent flyers migrated from the legacy Volare programme to Miles & More, Lufthansa Group’s loyalty platform. For corporate accounts already negotiating with Lufthansa Group on a multi-airline basis, the loyalty migration is the practical event: ITA’s Rome and Milan corporate volume now flows through the same recognition framework as Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian traffic.
The Volare-to-Miles-and-More migration consolidated member balances and elite status mappings at a moment when ITA’s own corporate sales operation was still being built up under Lufthansa direction. The carrier’s corporate offering is now substantively a Lufthansa Group product.
The brand question
ITA Airways will operate as a distinct Lufthansa Group brand through at least 2027-2028. The framing is consistent with how Lufthansa has historically managed acquired carriers: Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines all retain identifiable brand identities, livery and operational autonomy under group ownership. The model preserves national-flag familiarity in home markets while consolidating procurement, fleet decisions, network planning and revenue management at group level.
The branding decision is consequential because ITA itself replaced Alitalia in 2021, and the resulting brand has only existed for five years. A second brand reset within a decade would have been unusually disruptive.
Network and fleet read
ITA’s fleet renewal under Lufthansa control has continued, with Airbus A320neo and A321neo narrowbodies and A330-900neo widebodies in induction. Rome Fiumicino remains ITA’s principal hub. The route map has been progressively integrated with the broader Lufthansa Group network through codeshare and joint commercial arrangements, with ITA’s Mediterranean and South American routes complementing Lufthansa’s Northern and Central European authority and Swiss’s Asian depth.
What corporate buyers should track
For travel managers the practical 2026 questions are loyalty reciprocity, fare construction across multi-carrier itineraries, and corporate contract architecture. Lufthansa Group has indicated it will pursue group-wide commercial agreements rather than carrier-by-carrier deals where appropriate. The full integration of ITA into that framework — Star Alliance member, Miles & More carrier, Lufthansa Group portfolio brand, supermajority owned — is now substantively in place even before the residual equity transfers in 2028.