Air Canada and ITA Airways Celebrate Significant Partnership Milestone with New Codeshare Agreement Enhancing Connectivity Between Canada, Italy and Beyond Français
Each airline's code will be added to 10 routes beyond their respective hubs in Rome and Toronto
Activating codeshare is a significant milestone as ITA Airways' prepares for entry into Star Alliance
MONTREAL and ROME, July 14, 2025 /CNW/ - Air Canada and ITA Airways today announced a significant milestone in their partnership with a codeshare agreement that provides customers more convenient travel options when flying between Canada and Italy, and beyond.
"We're thrilled to expand our partnership with ITA Airways through our new codeshare agreement that complements our robust network to Italy. This deepening of ties will allow customers travelling on Air Canada to Rome-Fiumicino to conveniently book and seamlessly connect to ten popular destinations across Italy, Africa, Israel and Albania. Likewise, ITA Airways customers arriving in Toronto will benefit from access to 10 key Canadian and U.S. cities across our network," said Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, and President, Cargo at Air Canada.
"With work underway to facilitate ITA Airways' entry into Star Alliance, we are developing significant partnership synergies. This will form the foundation for a strong, long-term relationship between our two flag-carrying airlines."
"The codeshare agreement with Air Canada is a great step forward for our growth strategy," said Joerg Eberhart, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of ITA Airways. "This partnership improves connectivity for our passengers traveling between Italy and North America, our first market beyond Italy, serving both leisure and business travelers. Moreover, it enables us to offer seamless connections for passengers of Italian origin residing in Canada and the United States, facilitating their journeys to Italy and beyond, while providing them the opportunity to fully experience the excellence of Made in Italy — a heritage that ITA Airways proudly represents as an ambassador worldwide."
Under the agreement, Air Canada will place its AC code on select routes operated by ITA Airways from Rome-Fiumicino. These include five popular destinations in Italy: Lamezia Terme, Palermo, Catania, Florence and Bari; three points in Africa, including Cairo, and Tunis and Algiers; as well as Tirana and Tel Aviv (the latter temporarily suspended). ITA Airways will place its AZ code on selected routes operated by Air Canada from Toronto Pearson, these include: Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and St. John's; and selected services from Canada to the United States: Boston, Orlando, Dallas, and Fort Lauderdale.
* Routes to/from Tunis and Algiers are subject to governmental approval
Sales of codeshare tickets are available as of today, for travel starting on July 21 st.
The airlines are working towards implementing reciprocal earning and redemption capabilities for their respective loyalty programs. ITA Airways is also in the process of joining the Star Alliance network as a full member, with work underway to facilitate full membership expected in early 2026.
This partnership complements Air Canada's growing network to Italy. This summer, Air Canada will operate up to 39 weekly flights and over 13,000 weekly seats to Italy. In May, it launched a new route between Montreal and Naples, the gateway to the Amalfi coast. Naples is the airline's fourth non-stop connection between Canada and Italy in addition to Rome, Milan, and Venice. As well, Air Canada offers intermodal rail connections with Trenitalia, the largest train operator in Italy, with high-speed, regional, overnight and international train routes. Through these intermodal connections, customers will be able to travel to up to 30 onward destinations within Italy.
In the current summer season, ITA Airways operates a total of 59 destinations, including 16 intercontinental, 27 international and 16 domestic routes. During the summer peak, the airline flies to 12 additional seasonal destinations in the Mediterranean — 3 domestic and 9 international — from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. These seasonal destinations include the Balearic Islands (Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca), several Greek islands (Rhodes, Heraklion, Corfu, Zakynthos, Kefalonia), as well as the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Furthermore, in addition to seasonal routes, ITA Airways has recently enhanced its offering to passengers, providing them with connections to over 100 additional destinations — both across Europe and on intercontinental routes—through codeshare agreements with five Lufthansa Group airlines: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Air Dolomiti.
About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest airline, the country's flag carrier and a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network. Air Canada provides scheduled service directly to more than 180 airports in Canada, the United States and Internationally on six continents. It holds a Four-Star ranking from Skytrax. Air Canada's Aeroplan program is Canada's premier travel loyalty program, where members can earn or redeem points on the world's largest airline partner network of 45 airlines, plus through an extensive range of merchandise, hotel and car rental partners. Through Air Canada Vacations, it offers more travel choices than any other Canadian tour operator to hundreds of destinations worldwide, with a wide selection of hotels, flights, cruises, day tours, and car rentals. Its freight division, Air Canada Cargo, provides air freight lift and connectivity to hundreds of destinations across six continents using Air Canada's passenger and freighter aircraft. Air Canada's climate-related ambition includes a long-term aspirational goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. For additional information, please see Air Canada's TCFD disclosure. Air Canada shares are publicly traded on the TSX in Canada and the OTCQX in the US.
About ITA Airways
ITA Airways is the Italian reference carrier. The Company is 59% owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 41% by Deutsche Lufthansa AG. ITA Airways operates both passenger and cargo air transport services, providing Italy with high-quality connectivity to international destinations, supporting tourism and foreign trade, as well as domestic connectivity within the Country, also leveraging integrated mobility. Through strong digitization of processes to ensure the best possible experience and personalized services, ITA Airways places customer service at the core of its strategy. This is combined with a commitment to sustainability, which encompasses environmental aspects (such as a young, technologically advanced fleet to reduce environmental impact), social aspects (a strong focus on its employees and the communities in which it operates), and governance aspects (integrating sustainability into internal strategies and processes).
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