ITA Airways Airbus A320neo
For decades, Italian commercial aviation was a cautionary tale. Alitalia burned through billions in state subsidies, collapsed twice, and became synonymous with everything a national carrier shouldn’t be. Its successor, ITA Airways, launched in 2021 with a smaller fleet, a leaner workforce, and an impossible burden of comparison. It also came with an awesome blue color scheme and kept the Italian style. In 2025, it posted its first-ever profit. The ghost, at last, appears to be gone.
The Numbers
ITA Airways posted a net result of €209 million for 2025 — an improvement of €436 million over 2024. Total revenues held steady at €3.2 billion, of which €2.8 billion came from passenger traffic, up 2.7% year-on-year. EBITDA improved by €67 million to €404 million, and cash flow came in at €639 million.
The headline profit figure, however, deserves context. EBIT reached just €25 million — up €22 million YOY — meaning the operating result is wafer-thin. The net profit was materially assisted by favorable foreign currency adjustments on US dollar-denominated balances. Strip those out, and the picture is more modest.
Fewer Flights, Fewer Passengers, Better Economics
The most telling signal in the results is not the profit, but how ITA generated it. The airline flew 11% fewer flights and carried 8% fewer passengers than in 2024, yet its load factor rose to 83.4% — up 2.1 percentage points. In short, ITA flew less, carried fewer people, but did so more efficiently.
Domestic RASK rose 17.5%. Long-haul performance was the standout — intercontinental revenues grew 9.1% on 6.1% more capacity, with a long-haul load factor of 85.2% and business class load factors reaching 85.9%. This is not a volume story. It is a yield-and-network-quality story — exactly the kind of discipline that eluded Alitalia for forty years.
The Lufthansa Effect
The slot remedies imposed by the European Commission as a condition of Lufthansa’s 41% stake — which handed routes to competitors including easyJet — are part of why ITA flew less in 2025. The absence of full commercial support from a partner carrier on Italy-US routes weighed on results. Despite these structural headwinds, the airline turned profitable. CEO Joerg Eberhart, a Lufthansa Group veteran, credited both the company’s internal progress and the early synergies from the partnership.
The Open Question: Lease Costs
ITA’s own management is clear-eyed about what remains unresolved. The high financial charges linked to fleet leasing contracts continue to make the operating result not yet fully sustainable. The fleet stands at 106 aircraft — 70% new-generation with an average age of 6.5 years — but the cost of building that modern fleet weighs on the books. Until lease costs are restructured or absorbed by scale, the profitability is real but fragile.
Bottom Line
ITA Airways has done what many thought impossible: proved it can close the books in black without the chronic state support that defined the Alitalia era. The Lufthansa partnership is working, the yield discipline is evident, and the fleet is among the youngest in Europe. The lease cost overhang is the remaining structural challenge — and management knows it.
Alitalia’s ghost has been put to rest. Whether ITA can build durable profitability from here is the next question. The 2026 results will tell us whether 2025 was a turning point or a one-time accounting benefit.
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