* Article updated 02/01/2023 13:30 UTC with information from Lufthansa *
The saga regarding Lufthansa's interest in ITA Airways appears to have taken another twist. In a move that strongly hints at increased cooperation between the German and Italian flag carriers going forward, ITA Airways flights are now on sale on Lufthansa's website. Let's take a closer look at what this development, with thanks to Simple Flying reader Maximillian Passman for the story tip, might mean.
Unexpectedly on sale?
News of this development began arising in the German media recently, with Frankfurt Flyer noting the phenomenon's presence on Friday. The site observes that, on certain connecting itineraries involving Italian destinations, flights operated by ITA Airways, the country's new flag carrier, are now bookable via Lufthansa.
Of course, the ability to book flights on one airline via the website of another is nothing new, with codeshare agreements having helped foster greater worldwide connectivity in this regard. However, the presence of ITA Airways flights in Lufthansa's booking system, and routing rules now showing that Lufthansa-booked itineraries now allow for transfers in Italy, stand out from the crowd somewhat.
This is because, unlike Lufthansa's partnerships with, for example, its fellow Star Alliance members, the German flag carrier is yet to formally announce any partnership with ITA. That being said, such cooperation has been a hot topic of late.
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The story so far
A partnership between Lufthansa and ITA Airways has been widely discussed in the last year. Indeed, Simple Flying first noted in January 2022 that the German flag carrier was eyeing a share of up to 40% in Italy's new national airline. ITA confirmed this interest the following month, and the sale looked set to move forward.
However, March 2022 saw the waters muddied by reports of interest from the likes of Air France, Delta Air Lines, and KLM. Bidding for potential takeovers closed in May last year but was reopened until August after the Italian government deemed the existing bids to be insufficient. As such, the saga continued to drag on.
After Italy formed a new government towards the end of 2022, negotiations with Lufthansa looked set to restart. While the German flag carrier is yet to formally announce any such partnership with ITA, the appearance of flights operated by the Italian carrier on its website certainly hints that such a deal may be imminent.
Strategic interest
As Simple Flying examined last March, there are several reasons why, strategically speaking, a partnership between Lufthansa and ITA Airways would represent a strategic boost for the two carriers. Lufthansa's CEO Carsten Spohr has previously described Italy as the second most important strategic aviation market in the world. As such, integration between the two airlines would be of huge interest.
Lufthansa's ability to sell ITA Airways tickets may also have useful long-haul permutations. Indeed, as Frankfurt Flyer notes, the Star Alliance member flies more passengers from the US to Italy than the US to its German homeland. While Reisetopia observes that only Italian domestic connections were initially appearing in Lufthansa's booking system, it will be interesting to see how the story develops. Simple Flying contacted Lufthansa for a statement, and the airline advised us that the tickets are sold through an interline agreement with ITA Airways, something that it notes is "not a new agreement."
Sources: Frankfurt Flyer, Reisetopia