Air Dolomiti, the Italian airline of Lufthansa Group, is expected to grow in aircraft, routes and frequencies in 2024. The information was revealed by its CEO, Steffen Harbarth, in an interview to Corriere della Sera published this Wednesday (28).
According to the executive, the airline currently operates 20 aircraft, all manufactured by Embraer, and it is «[aiming] to grow to 25-26» aircraft «between the end of next year and early 2025».
These new aircraft, he added, would be deployed in increasing frequencies to Lufthansa’s main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich «in some routes that today are still below pre-COVID [levels]». Additionally, its base in Florence would be connected to Zurich — hub of Swiss, another member of the Lufthansa Group.
Harbarth did not make clear if these aircraft would be sourced from out of the group or from within. Still, Lufthansa CityLine still has six Embraer 190 in its fleet, all fully owned by the group, according to Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer.
The other Embraer operator of the Lufthansa Group, Austrian Airlines, also owns its fleet of 17 Embraer 195. However, as of this week’s schedules on Cirium’s Diio Mi application, its Embraer capacity next Summer would be significantly higher (12%, by ASKs, between April and September 2024) than in the same period of 2023.
Headquartered in Verona, Air Dolomiti plays a significant role in the Italian operations of the group. Of all brands managed by Lufthansa, in 2023 it is the second-largest in terms of offered seats to and from the country, second to Lufthansa (by ASKs, it is behind Eurowings too), according to Cirium.
Harbarth told Corriere that this year, Air Dolomiti will have offered 4 million seats in 39,000 flights, having registered 3 million passengers in the period. Air Dolomiti also has operations flown with its aircraft and marketed only as Lufthansa (with the LH airline code), much as Lufthansa CityLine does.
Although Air Dolomiti does not publish quarterly financial data, in its financial statements for 2022 Lufthansa reported a shareholders’ equity of EUR57 million for Air Dolomiti S.p.A. Linee Aeree Regionali Europee, as well as a net profit of EUR2 million.
As for any cooperation with ITA Airways, Italy’s currently state-owned airline of which Lufthansa plans to purchase a stake, Harbarth said that any integration moves — such as feeding ITA’s Rome/Fiumicino hub — would have to wait for the European Comission’s approval of Lufthansa’s purchase before even being discussed.
