ITA Airways has launched a new suite of Green Fares across its domestic, European and selected intercontinental network, becoming the latest carrier in the Lufthansa Group to bake a carbon contribution directly into ticket prices for corporate and leisure passengers alike.
Available as Economy Green, Premium Economy Green and Business Green, the fares allow travellers to support certified climate protection projects and contribute to the uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) with a single click at the point of booking. The move mirrors the model already familiar to business travellers flying Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, and follows the carrier’s integration into the Lufthansa Group, which is now moving into its decisive phase.
How the contribution is split
ITA Airways has structured the Green Fares around two distinct allocation models, reflecting the differing maturity of the SAF market across short and long-haul operations.
On domestic and European routes, the estimated emissions per passenger are offset with 80 per cent of the contribution channelled into high-quality climate protection projects, and the remaining 20 per cent invested in the future use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels.
On selected intercontinental sectors, the split flips to 10 per cent SAF and 90 per cent climate protection, recognising the higher absolute emissions of long-haul flying and the limited availability of certified SAF at scale. Green Fares are not, however, available on flights to or from Japan, the United States or Canada, a notable exclusion for corporate travel managers building transatlantic programmes.
Beyond the environmental element, Green Fares deliver tangible commercial benefits: additional Miles and Points within the Miles & More loyalty programme, greater flexibility on booking changes, and all the existing perks of Economy or Business Saver tickets.
Net zero by 2050, the wider strategy
The launch sits at the heart of ITA Airways’ commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, an objective shared across the global industry under the IATA Fly Net Zero framework. IATA estimates that SAF will deliver around 65 per cent of the emissions reductions required to hit that target, although supply-side bottlenecks remain a persistent industry concern for buyers planning sustainable travel programmes.
ITA Airways’ decarbonisation strategy rests on three pillars: fleet renewal, 74 per cent of its aircraft are now new-generation models, the increasing use of SAF, and continuous improvements to operational efficiency. Passenger-facing fare innovation is the visible front end of that strategy.
A Lufthansa Group milestone
The Green Fares debut also represents another step in the harmonisation of ITA Airways’ customer experience with the rest of the Lufthansa Group. The Italian carrier recently went live with the group’s “ONCE” online check-in platform, available through the ITA Airways website and app, completing its alignment with the group’s digital services ecosystem.
The sustainability push is underpinned by Lufthansa Group’s expanding climate portfolio, which now spans 14 certified projects across its home markets and beyond, including a first commitment to direct air capture and storage technology. Passengers across the group contributed the equivalent of more than 710,000 metric tonnes of CO₂ last year through sustainable travel choices, a 20 per cent year-on-year increase that the group is keen to accelerate via the wider Green Fares roll-out, as confirmed in the Lufthansa Group newsroom.
What it means for corporate travel buyers
For travel managers, the Green Fares offer a frictionless way to fold scope-three emissions reporting into existing booking flows without bolting on a separate carbon offset supplier. The fares may particularly appeal to UK-headquartered corporates with Italian operations or Rome-based teams flying intra-Europe, where the 80/20 climate-to-SAF split delivers a higher proportion of immediate verified offsets.
The exclusion of US, Canada and Japan routes will, however, leave a gap on some of the most carbon-intensive long-haul corridors — meaning buyers will still need a separate strategy for those itineraries until ITA Airways extends the model.