Just over two years ago, Alitalia ceased operations. As a result of that, its partnership with ANA came to an end too. Now, ANA appears to be less than two weeks away from starting a cross-alliance codeshare partnership with Alitalia’s successor ITA Airways.
Continue reading to learn more.
ANA and ITA Airways to Start Codesharing in Late-January 2024
On January 10, 2024, The Nikkei reported that Japan’s ANA and Alitalia’s successor ITA Airways will start codesharing on selected flights in late-January 2024. A day later, an ANA press release confirmed the report, specifying that the codesharing will start from January 24, 2024.
With ANA belonging to Star Alliance and ITA Airways to SkyTeam, the upcoming codeshare partnership is another case of increasing collaboration between airlines from different alliances. That said, with Lufthansa working on acquiring a significant portion of ITA Airways, the Italian airline is expected to switch to Star Alliance at some point in the future.
Twenty-five routes will initially be part of the codeshare partnership:
- ANA flight numbers will be put on ITA Airways’ flights between Rome Fiumicino and Tokyo Haneda, which are operated five times a week
- ANA flight numbers will be put on ITA Airways’ domestic flights between Rome and Bologna, Florence, Naples, Turin, and Venice
- ITA Airways flight numbers will be put on ANA’s domestic flights between Tokyo Haneda and Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Naha, Osaka Itami, Osaka Kansai, and Sapporo New Chitose
Over time, the codesharing partnership is expected to be expanded.
Given that ANA doesn’t currently operate flights to Italy, no international ANA flights will be part of the the codeshare partnership for the time being. That said, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ANA was planning to launch flights to Milan in April 2020 alongside launching flights to Istanbul, Moscow, and Stockholm.
This new codeshare partnership might indicate ANA is leaning toward launching flights to Milan (as opposed to the other destinations it planned to launch or relaunching flights to Vienna or Dusseldorf, the two European destinations it hasn’t relaunched yet) at some point in the near future, as it continues to rebuild and expand its network after the pandemic.
Doing so would allow it to expand the codeshare partnership with ITA Airways to also include non-stop flights between Tokyo Haneda and Milan Malpensa.
ANA Used to Have a Partnership with Alitalia
While ANA’s partnership with ITA Airways will be new, the airline partnered with ITA Airways’ predecessor Alitalia (which was a member of SkyTeam too) from October 28, 2018, until its shutdown in 2021. The airlines both codeshared and offered reciprocal perks in their respective frequent flyer programs.
As for the codeshares, when the partnership first started:
- ANA put its flight numbers on Alitalia’s flights connecting Tokyo Narita with Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino, as well as on Alitalia’s domestic flights from Rome to Bologna, Florence, Milan, Naples, Turin, and Venice
- Alitalia put its flight numbers on ANA’s domestic flights from Tokyo Narita to Fukuoka, Naha, Osaka Itami, Sapporo New Chitose, and Sendai
The airlines allowed reciprocal mileage accrual on codeshare routes and mileage redemption on all routes.
Next Step: Redeeming ANA Miles for ITA Flights?
If history is anything to go by then chances are high that at some point in the future, ANA and ITA Airways will expand their partnership from just codesharing to also recognizing each other’s frequent flyer programs.
Personally, the ability to earn ITA Volare miles on ANA flights is not something I would be very excited about. However, I would be very happy to be able to spend ANA miles on ITA Airways flights.
Only time will tell when that happens – whether in the near future or when (or if) Lufthansa closes the acquisition and ITA Airways switches to Star Alliance.
Summary
Originally reported by The Nikkei and now confirmed by the airlines, ANA and ITA Airways will be starting a codesharing partnership later this month. Given that ANA used to codeshare with Alitalia, ITA Airways’ predecessor, this is not a completely surprising development.
Back when Alitalia was still around, it also partnered with ANA to reciprocally recognize each other’s frequent flyer programs, allowing Alitalia members to earn and redeem miles on ANA flights and vice-versa. It would be great to see a similar development happen relatively soon in ANA’s partnership with ITA Airways.
First published on 2024/01/11. Updated on 2024/01/12 with the partnership’s starting date and the exact routes that will be part of the partnership.
