ANA and Lufthansa Group add ITA Airways to their joint venture in Europe and Japan | News
ITA Airways is taking a new step towards becoming part of the Lufthansa Group. The strategic Japan Europe Joint Venture of All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Lufthansa Group (LHG) will be expanded by the Lufthansa Group to include ITA Airways from autumn this year. A corresponding agreement was signed the day before at IATA’s annual general meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
The Italian airline’s entry into the largest joint venture between Japan and Europe will enable deeper cooperation in many key areas. It will include ITA Airways’ European network, including the domestic network of Italy and the Maghreb, as well as the long-haul route between Rome Fiumicino and Tokyo-Haneda. This complements the existing size of the joint venture in Italy with the current ANA connection from Tokyo-Haneda to Milan-Malpensa.
The focus is on ITA Airways’ hub, Rome-Fiumicino Airport. From there, Italy’s flagship airline offers a daily non-stop flight to Tokyo-Haneda. Both airports have received the highest possible rating of five stars from Skytrax. From this autumn, this intercontinental flight can be booked by customers of ANA, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and SWISS and can be flexibly combined with their own flights. In addition, the joint offering will be rolled out sequentially from autumn 2026. Customers will be informed as soon as this option is offered.
Because the joint venture also includes ITA Airways feeder flights to Rome, travelers to or from Japan now have additional connection options. Especially for destinations in Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, flight times to and from Japan via the southern hub in Rome will be shorter. In addition to Tokyo-Haneda, ANA ITA Airways offers passengers numerous onward connections to its domestic network in Japan. All passengers can also use the respective lounges in Rome and Tokyo. Tickets and the loyalty programs of both airlines are mutually recognized.
The Japan Europe Joint Venture was founded in 2012 by ANA and Lufthansa. In the following years, SWISS and Austrian Airlines joined. Since then, this joint project has enabled deeper collaboration and coordinated product planning. The necessary antitrust clearance (antitrust immunity) was granted by the Japanese authorities a few weeks ago. As part of this joint venture, participating airlines can, for example, coordinate their flight schedules to better distribute departure times throughout the day. Customers of all five participating airlines will find a coordinated and comparable range of services and products on their flights between Japan and Europe. With the ability to combine all long-haul flights with full flexibility, including regional feeder flights at both Tokyo-Haneda and five Lufthansa Group hubs, passengers have significantly more travel and connection options. Between Japan and Europe alone, this joint venture now offers a choice of 160 weekly long-haul flights.
Juichi Hirasawa, president and CEO of All Nippon Airways, said: “As we approach the 15th anniversary of our joint venture next year, our long-standing partnership with Lufthansa Group has enabled us to provide our passengers with a seamless and high-quality travel experience between Japan and Europe. As ITA Airways joins us to open the gateway to Rome, we look forward to providing travelers with exceptional service and even easier access to Italy, Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and beyond.”
Joerg Eberhart, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of ITA Airways, said: “We are very proud to be part of the Europe Japan Joint Venture together with ANA and Lufthansa Group. This agreement represents an important milestone in the international development of ITA Airways and strengthens the airline’s connectivity with the Asia-Pacific region, an area of great strategic importance. We thank our partners Lufthansa Group and ANA for this important opportunity, which will enable us to offer our customers more travel options, more efficient connections and a increasingly integrated travel experience.”
