ITA will be the 5th Lufthansa Group airline to join Star Alliance

Eight years after the near collapse of Alitalia, its successor ITA Airways has begun the “integration process” to become a full member of the Star Alliance. The Italian flag carrier is part of the Lufthansa Group, although it is still 59% owned by the Italian government, and has been accepted by the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board to become the fifth airline controlled by the German aviation group to join. Upon completion, expected next year, Star Alliance will have 26 global airline members “offering over 18,000 daily flights connecting 192 countries.” The approval to join the world’s largest airline group marked the conclusion of a tumultuous period for the airline which is effectively the continuation of Alitalia. Its predecessor struggled to survive after Etihad Airways pulled it support in 2017, and was eventually rescued by the Italian government in 2020. Although the company was reorganised later that year as ITA, it was stopped from transferring Alitalia branding and flight slots by the European Commission in 2021. The European Union’s competition laws did not allow for the non-market transaction to exclude external bidders.<br/>