With the start of the winter timetable on 26 October 2025, the collaboration between Lufthansa Cargo and Ita Airways in cargo operations advanced further with the introduction of Lufthansa Cargo’s 020 air waybill prefix on flights departing from Rome Fiumicino. According to the German carrier, which issued an update on 17 November 2025, more than one thousand tonnes of freight have already been moved in the belly holds of Ita Airways’ passenger aircraft in the first two weeks of the partnership. The operational agreement, launched in June on inbound routes to Fiumicino, is now almost fully implemented, with the temporary exception of services to and from the United States and Canada, which still require regulatory approval.
Integrating Rome routes into Lufthansa Cargo’s commercial network increases overall bellyhold capacity by around 20 percent. Fiumicino thus becomes the carrier’s fifth European hub alongside Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Brussels. The airline highlights direct benefits for customers in terms of routing options and flexibility in intercontinental connections.
Lufthansa Cargo offers up to thirty additional weekly services to South America, particularly Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Towards Asia, up to twenty-one extra weekly flights are available, including Bangkok, New Delhi and Tokyo Haneda. The Rome offering also includes seasonal connections to Mauritius and Malé. For North Africa and the Middle East, the expansion adds up to seventy-one weekly services to and from destinations such as Algiers, Cairo, Accra, Dakar, Tunis, Dubai and Riyadh. The new hub also strengthens the European road feeder network and enables closer integration with the Frankfurt, Munich, Brussels and Vienna gateways.
In the company’s communication, Lufthansa Cargo chief executive Ashwin Bhat describes the first shipments from Rome as an important step in extending the global network, emphasising the role of the new airport as an operational platform for Southern Europe and the reinforcement of the “Enabling Global Business” transport offer. The cooperation between Ita Airways and Lufthansa Cargo was defined as part of the Lufthansa Group’s entry into the Italian airline’s share capital. Since June, Lufthansa Cargo has been progressively marketing Ita Airways’ bellyhold capacity on several routes, with the aim of expanding the Group’s overall network and adapting it to changes in demand.
