ITA Airways

If you haven’t flown to Italy for a few years, you may still be looking along the fence for Alitalia’s green-and-red “A”. Instead, an Airbus in solid blue now taxis to the runway: ITA Airways. The flight number still starts with AZ, but behind the code is a young airline with a new fleet, a new alliance and Lufthansa as a shareholder. This page shows you how to identify ITA reliably and how to tell the Airbus types in the fleet apart.

ITA Airways at a glance

ITA Airways is Italy’s network airline, headquartered in Rome. The Italian state founded it in November 2020 under the name Italia Trasporto Aereo S.p.A. to settle the succession of the debt-ridden Alitalia. The transition was seamless: On October 14, 2021 Alitalia flew for the last time, and on October 15, 2021 ITA took off on its first flight. Parts of the fleet and operations passed to the new company, as did the well-known IATA code AZ and later the trademark rights to Alitalia.

The hub is Rome-Fiumicino Airport. ITA flies long-haul only from there, for example to North and South America and to Asia. The second focus is in Milan – but at the city-center airport Linate, not Malpensa. The only long-haul route from Milan-Malpensa Airport, the connection to New York-JFK, was dropped by ITA in January 2024.

Since January 2025 the Lufthansa Group has held a 41 percent stake in ITA, with the remaining 59 percent held by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. In May 2026 Lufthansa announced it would raise its stake to 90 percent. As of October 2026 this step has not been completed, with closing expected in early 2027.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code AZ: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board, on the ticket and in the airport schedule.
• ICAO code ITY: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign ITARROW: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The IATA code in particular causes confusion. AZ was Alitalia’s code for decades, and ITA took it over. So a flight number like “AZ” plus digits tells you nothing about whether you’re looking at an Alitalia aircraft in an old photo or an ITA in a new one. Only the ICAO code is unambiguous: Alitalia flew as AZA, ITA flies as ITY. You’ll find more on the system behind the abbreviations in the article IATA and ICAO codes explained.

From SkyTeam to Star Alliance

For spotters who keep an eye on alliances, ITA has made a complete switch in a short time. From October 2021 the airline was a member of SkyTeam, the alliance of Air France, KLM and Delta. With Lufthansa’s entry it was clear this would change: At the end of April 2025 ITA left SkyTeam, and on April 1, 2026 it was admitted as the 26th member of Star Alliance.

At the same time, Miles & More, the frequent flyer program of the Lufthansa Group, replaced ITA’s previous program Volare. The closeness is also visible on the ground: Since the end of March 2025, ITA has been handled in Frankfurt at Terminal 1 and in Munich at Terminal 2 – that is, where Lufthansa and many alliance partners are handled as well.

Period	Alliance	Key partners	Spotter note
Oct. 2021 – Apr. 2025	SkyTeam	Air France, KLM, Delta	Older photos sometimes show SkyTeam branding
since April 1, 2026	Star Alliance	Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian	Since 2026 individual aircraft fly in Star Alliance livery

How the three big alliances are structured and who belongs to which is covered in the overview Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam. For ITA the switch mainly means: Instead of next to Air France, the airline now stands in the network next to Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.

The fleet: Airbus from A220 to A350

ITA flies exclusively aircraft from Airbus. According to current fleet overviews (as of fall 2026), the fleet comprises around 110 aircraft, with more A320neos on order. The following numbers are rounded guide values – they change continuously through deliveries and retirements.

Type	Number (approx.)	Use	Spotter note
Airbus A220-100	12	Short haul	Shortest version, replaces the A319
Airbus A220-300	19	Short haul	Stretched A220, now more common than the -100
Airbus A319	10	Short haul	Oldest short-haul type, being retired
Airbus A320	17	Short and medium haul	First generation, smaller engines
Airbus A320neo	19, more on order	Short and medium haul	Large engines, the backbone of the future
A321LR (A321neo)	9	Medium haul	Long-range version of the neo
Airbus A330-200	1	Long-haul	Last example of the old generation
Airbus A330-900	17	Long-haul	Most important long-haul type
Airbus A350-900	6	Long-haul	Flagship of the fleet

For you as a spotter the fleet is rewarding: There is no Boeing mix-up, but there are several pairs within the Airbus family that you need to tell apart. The A220 is the exotic one here – it originally comes from Bombardier and looks quite different from the A320 family.

Telling the types apart

Because the livery is the same on all types, fuselage length, engines and wingtips decide. You’ll run into these three pairs most often at ITA.

You rarely encounter the long-haul pair A330-900 and A350-900 in central Europe, because ITA flies long-haul only from Rome. You recognize the A350 by the distinctive black surround of the cockpit windows and the upswept wingtips. General tips on recognizing types are in Aircraft type recognition for beginners.

How to recognize ITA Airways

ITA’s livery stands out immediately because it breaks with a convention: Instead of a white fuselage, every aircraft wears a fully blue fuselage in a shimmering Italian blue. Added to this are white engine nacelles, which strengthen the contrast, the “ITA Airways” titles on the forward fuselage and the Italian tricolor on the tail. The aircraft also carry the names of well-known Italian athletes.

The deviations are exciting. ITA has several special liveries in service, including a retro look under the motto “Inspired by Alitalia”, designs for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, a livery for an anniversary of the Red Cross and, since 2026, aircraft in Star Alliance look. Which of them are currently flying changes – how to find such aircraft deliberately is shown in the guide Finding special liveries.

With the registration a second look pays off: A large part of the ITA fleet is registered not in Italy but in Ireland and therefore carries a registration with EI-. Only individual aircraft fly with the Italian prefix I-. An Irish registration alone therefore doesn’t argue against ITA. What the prefixes mean worldwide is explained in the articles Understanding aircraft registrations and Aircraft country codes. There is also a special case, by the way: Since December 2021, ITA has generally flown the Pope on his trips abroad.

Spotting ITA Airways in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

ITA connects numerous airports in the German-speaking region with Italy. Destinations include Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport, Düsseldorf Airport, Hamburg Airport and Stuttgart Airport, and in Switzerland Zurich Airport and Geneva Airport. Most go to Rome-Fiumicino, some also to Milan-Linate.

On these routes, mainly A220s and aircraft of the A320 family are used. An ITA sighting is therefore a good occasion to determine the type precisely right away. Good locations include the Zeppelinheim viewing platform in Frankfurt, the visitors’ hill in Munich, the observation deck in Düsseldorf, the observation deck in Hamburg and the observation deck in Stuttgart. In Switzerland, spectator terrace B in Zurich and the observation terrace in Geneva offer a good view.

If you want to see the long-haul fleet, it’s best to plan a visit to Rome-Fiumicino. ITA is at home there, and with some luck you’ll see the whole range from the A220 to the A350 in a single day. You’ll find ideas for more destinations in the best spotting spots in Europe.

ITA in the Italian airline market

ITA is not the only Italian airline you see at airports in the German-speaking region. On leisure services Neos flies, an airline with a Boeing fleet, and Aeroitalia is another young company in operation. Neither has anything to do with ITA – livery and codes clearly differ. If you travel to Italy to spot, you will also meet the big low-cost carriers, such as Ryanair with a large base in Milan-Bergamo.

Common mix-ups

• Taking AZ for Alitalia – the code has been used by ITA Airways since October 2021; Alitalia no longer flies.
• Still filing ITA under SkyTeam – since April 1, 2026 ITA has been a member of Star Alliance.
• Taking ITA for a wholly owned Lufthansa subsidiary – as of October 2026 Lufthansa holds 41 percent, and the increase to 90 percent has not been completed.
• Equating A320 and A320neo – both fly at ITA, and you can only tell them apart by the engines.
• Assuming Milan-Malpensa as ITA’s base – in Milan, ITA is mainly present at Linate Airport.
• Taking Neos or Aeroitalia for ITA – a registration only shows the country of registration, not the airline; livery and ICAO code are decisive.
• Taking an EI- registration for an Irish airline – many ITA aircraft are registered in Ireland.

Conclusion

In just a few years ITA Airways has gone from Alitalia’s successor to part of the Lufthansa world: a new alliance, a new frequent flyer program, shared terminals in Frankfurt and Munich. For spotters, what remains above all is the striking look – the blue fuselage is a showstopper at any airport. If you also note registrations and engines, you turn a quick sighting into a cleanly identified entry from the A220 to the A350.