Long gone are the days when the only financial results you could associate with an Italian flag carrier were losses. ITA Airways registered a 90 million operating profit EBIT in 2025. Let’s dig a little deeper and allow me to tell you what this signals. Read the full 2025 yearly financial report in this post.
TL;DR:
- Operating Success: ITA generated €2.8 billion in passenger revenue, a 2.7% increase achieved through strict capacity discipline rather than reckless expansion.
- The Premium Shift: Business Class load factors hit a staggering 85.9%. ITA is successfully capturing high-yield traffic, which translates to higher margins – but potentially tighter award seat availability for frequent flyers.
- Yield over Volume: A massive 17.5% RASK increase on domestic routes shows ITA has abandoned the “price war” with low-cost carriers to focus on profitable corporate segments.
- Star Alliance 2026: March 30th marks the end of the Volare program as we know it. Expect full Star Alliance integration and a transition to Miles & More as Lufthansa prepares to increase its stake to 90%.
In This Post:
- ITA Airways Delivers €90M EBIT
- Premium Demand Peak
- What’s Next for Volare and Miles & More?
- Subscribe to my newsletter
ITA Airways Delivers €90M EBIT: Lufthansa’s Italian Bet Pays Off
€90M Adjusted EBIT for most airlines is nothing to write home about. However, if we give it some color specifying this is coming from the recently born Italian flag carrier ITA Airways it suddenly becomes a much more interesting figure.
ITA Airways is moving away from Alitalia’s shortcomings moving into positive operating margin territory. As far back as I can remember Alitalia, Italy’s former flag carrier, never delivered such results.
A result that confirms Lufthansa’s Italian bet is starting to pay off. Lufthansa having taken a 41% stake in the Italian carrier and poised to increase its stake in coming months.
Looking at some numbers from this preliminary 2025 yearly report ITA delivered some encouraging growth signals by adopting Lufthansa-like yield discipline.
Instead of chasing an Alitalia-like seat filling strategy, selling off tickets at low prices and competing with low-cost carriers on money-losing routes, ITA Airways now chooses its battles very carefully. It has shifted its efforts on high yield short haul sectors and high margin long haul flights.
It reduced capacity on a number of sectors, which would have you think that cost per unit would increase. However despite the capacity reduction, ITA Airways registered a 2.7% passenger revenue increase in 2025 over 2024 transporting 16.2 million passengers in calendar year.
Premium Demand Peak: 85% Business Class Load Factors
ITA Airways, as other global carriers alike, is riding the premium demand gravy train. Unlike its predecessor Alitalia, ITA is demonstrating to be capable of intercepting premium demand and focusing its efforts in the correct areas.
Business class passenger load factor stood at an above average 85.9% (above the median line of 83.4%. That testifies a capability of attracting more higher paying passengers which come with higher margins.
For instance, ITA Airways achieved a 9.1% increase in long haul passenger revenue by only deploying additional 6.4% seat capacity.
That means that it might become harder if, these results consolidate over time, to book award flights on the airline. Airlines will always prefer selling seats cash over giving them away as award tickets.
Finally these financial results are also result of the long ongoing fleet renovation. ITA Airways now possesses the youngest fleet in Europe by average age, only 6.5 years. 74 out of its 106 passenger aircraft are new generation jets. They ensure lower fuel burn, cost per unit and in turn ensure higher yields and operating margins.
Although ITA Airways will feel the pinch of the middle eastern conflict, as every other airline, it’s primary focus is on other regions, such as North and South America, Africa and Asia where it should continue to generate positive results in 2026 too.
Star Alliance 2026: What’s Next for Volare and Miles & More?
So what’s in store for 2026, let’s talk about that. First things first, the upcoming deadline is March 30th when earning and redeeming Volare frequent flyer miles will stop. Volare had been extended from December 31st 2025 and is likely to give way to the share Lufthansa Group Miles & More program.
More importantly we’ll be awaiting ITA Airways to officially enter the Star Alliance, having left SkyTeam in 2025. That will be the first step towards fully integrating with Lufthansa and its strategic partners by entering the A++ transatlantic JV (Joint Venture).
These initial signals of success from ITA Airways will also embolden the Lufthansa Group to increase its stake in the Italian airline’s equity. Currently LHG holds a 41% stake, which will soon jump up to a controlling stake of 90% with the Italian government detaining the remaining 10%.
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