Days after the Lufthansa Group closed its purchase of 41% of Italy's ITA Airways, the group began the process of combining with the airline.

Germany's Lufthansa will start making money from its investment in ITA Airways from this year, the chief executive of the German carrier, Carsten Spohr, said on Monday.

Lufthansa Group remains a minority shareholder in Italy’s national carrier, but it’s already leveraging the benefits of its 41% stake.

With the completion of Lufthansa Group’s investment in ITA Airways, passengers will soon feel the benefits of the integration, such as the use of frequent flyer

The Lufthansa Group has begun its commercial integration with Italian carrier ITA Airways. The move follows Lufthansa's finalized purchase of 41% of ITA last month for 325 million euros and ITA's formal entry into the Lufthansa Group, where it joined fellow network carriers Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels.

Lufthansa Group is ramping up efforts to integrate new member airline ITA Airways, starting with merging frequent flyer programmes.

There is scope for more consolidation in Europe's airline sector, the chief executive of Germany's Lufthansa said on Monday, having just bought a 41% stake in Italy's state-owned ITA Airways.Lufthansa paid 325 million euros ($332 million) for the ITA deal and last week agreed to buy a 10% stake in Latvian airline airBaltic.