ITA Airways Joining Star Alliance: YES!
Intro
ITA Airways, the latest flag carrier in Italy, has just made a big announcement, and I am excited. Before we get to the announcement, a quick background on ITA Airways is needed.
ITA Airways was originally founded in November 2020 after Alitalia went under. For the next year after that, they remained alliance-free before joining Skyteam in October 2021. Since then, they have operated with Skyteam until Lufthansa recently decided to purchase a 41% stake in the airline. Well, as no suprise, ITA Airways will be dropping Skyteam and heading over to Star Alliance shortly!
The Details
ITA Airways has just announced that as of April 30th, 2025, the airline will no longer be a part of Skyteam. There is a grace period for those looking to redeem miles on ITA, as from now until April 30th; you should still be able to earn and redeem on ITA.
They have a killer A321neo Business Class product 😉.
Once leaving Skyteam, ITA Airways has decided to join Star Alliance, but there is a catch. The airline won't immediately be joining Star Alliance, as it is going to be until sometime in the first half of 2026 when they join.
So, what happens if you want to redeem miles? Due to the partnership stake that Lufthansa has invested in ITA, those who are a part of the Lufthansa Miles and More program, as well as the ITA Airways Volare program, will be able to redeem miles on the retrospective airlines.
A Quick Thought
As a Star Alliance flyer and someone who loves ITA Airways, this is some incredible news for me. However, this is also a big swing for Star Alliance as a whole for a couple of different reasons.
Towards the South of Europe, ITA Airways was one of the only flag carriers that was not part of Star Alliance (at a big hub, I mean). If we look at Greece, we have Aegean; Turkey; we have Turkish Airlines; Portugal, we have TAP; and in Egypt (North Africa), we have Egypt Air. Minus Spain with Iberia, there is an enclosure of Star Alliance Carriers around the Med.
Delta, which you know is an airline I am not a fan of, have been expanding into the Italian market. With the lack of connecting traffic, I have to imagine this is something that Delta will have to have a look at (I'll make a post explaining why I don't like Delta)
Final Thoughts
ITA Airways, the flag carrier of Italy, has just announced that they will be leaving Skyteam as of April 30th, 2025. While the airline will be joining Star Alliance, it will originally be alliance-free until the first half of 2026. For those looking to redeem miles, it seems to be that the only way will be through Lufthansa Miles and More.
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