Italian carrier ITA Airways is to leave the SkyTeam alliance in favour of rival Star Alliance, as it begins integration with strategic partner Lufthansa Group.
ITA Airways says it expects to complete the process of joining Star by early 2026.
Lufthansa Group has taken a minority stake in the airline, which had previously been wholly-owned by the Italian government.
ITA emerged in 2020 as the government sought to establish a successor to troubled flag-carrier Alitalia.
It had initially agreed in 2021 to maintain Alitalia’s allegiance to SkyTeam. Alitalia had sided with the alliance two decades earlier.
But following the tie-up with Lufthansa Group, ITA Airways is defecting, marking another significant European alliance shift after Star member SAS switched to SkyTeam in September last year.
ITA chief executive Joerg Eberhart confirmed the change had been “finalised” as he unveiled an initial set of commercial initiatives under the Lufthansa deal.
The exit phase from SkyTeam will end on 30 April. “[We] will soon begin the process of joining Star Alliance,” says Eberhart.
He states that the new initiatives include codesharing, harmonised connections, relocation of ITA operations to Lufthansa terminals in Germany, and a partnership between the carriers’ loyalty programmes.
“But this is just the beginning,” he adds. “We will continue to work to seize further growth opportunities and offer our customers new benefits in the coming weeks.”
