Lufthansa in of itself is one of the largest airlines in the world, along with one of the largest members of the Star Alliance. However, the airline is part of a much greater group that control a substantial number of European Airlines. Here’s which airlines are part of the Lufthansa Group.
Aviation News You Want To Know In Your Inbox
Get the most important aviation news in your inbox once a week.
What Kind of Airlines Are Part of The Group
The airlines controlled by the Lufthansa Group cover the whole spectrum of service levels:
- Full Service & Legacy Airlines
- Low Cost Carriers
- Regional Airlines
Which Airlines are Part of The Lufthansa Group?
Let’s kick things off taking a look to which legacy airlines and full service carriers are part of the German lead group:
- Austrian Airlines (Austria)
- Brussels Airlines (Belgium)
- Swiss International Airlines (Switzerland)
- ITA Airways (Italy)
- Edelweiss Air (Switzerland)
These airlines fly and operate out of their respective home countries. However they operate with the caveat of not creating too much competition to the main airline of the group, Lufthansa.
Both Swiss International and Austrian, flag carriers of Switzerland and Austria, were acquired by Lufthansa who incorporated them into its own group.
Let’s move on to the group’s regional airlines. These are feeder airlines that will operate short haul flights on lower demand or domestic flights towards the LH main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich.
- Lufthansa CityLine (Germania)
- Air Dolomiti (Italia)
Lufthansa CityLine mainly operates within Germany, serving secondary or low demand airports with a fleet of smaller jets, often CRJs.
Air Dolomiti on the other hand is a subsidiary that operates from the Verona airport in northern Italy. Unsurprisingly the main routes served are Verona-Munich and Verona-Frankfurt. It is too a feeder airline.
Now to wrap things up with the budget airlines of the Lufthansa Group:
- Eurowings
Eurowings operates a quite varied network. The German low-cost airline operates both short and long haul flights with it’s mixed fleet of narrow and wide bodied aircrafts. It serves both popular business and leisure destinations from various German airports.
The Shared Frequent Flyer Programme
All the airlines of the group share their frequent flyer programme. All of them use the Lufthansa Miles & More system. This means that flying on any of these carriers you’ll build up Lufthansa frequent flyer miles and you’ll be able claim award flights on any of them too.
The Addition of ITA Airways
The Lufthansa Group bought in May 2023 41% of ITA Airways, Italy’s flag carrier. At the moment the Italian airline is not completely integrated into the LH ecosystem as they are still part of the Skyteam alliance and still have their own frequent flyer programme, Volare.
