Air Italy
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Founded | 2005 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frequent-flyer program | Meridiana Club | ||||||
Fleet size | 15 | ||||||
Destinations | see Meridiana | ||||||
Parent company | Meridiana | ||||||
Headquarters | Milan, Italy | ||||||
Website | meridiana.com |
Air Italy S.p.A. is an Italian airline[2] headquartered in Milan. It is a fully integrated subsidiary of Meridiana and operates domestic and international services using the Meridiana brand.
History
The airline was set up in 2005 and was originally owned by BV Asset Management (40%), Giuseppe Gentile (40%) and the Pathfinder Corporation (20%)[3]). It started operations on 29 May of the same year with an inaugural flight from Turin to Budapest. In late 2006, an independent investment company acquired a 40% share in Air Italy.
The funding of 280 million Euros was used to buy three used Boeing 767 aircraft (one -200ER and two -300ERs) in 2007 and 2008 for services to leisure destinations in Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean.[4] Most of Air Italy's independent flights left from either Naples Airport, Turin Airport, Verona Airport or Milan Malpensa Airport.[3]
On 18 July 2011, Meridiana, known as Meridiana fly back then, announced to merge with Air Italy.[5] Since 2013, Air Italy operates entirely on behalf of Meridiana using their corporate design. The name Air Italy is no longer used in public.
Subsidiaries
Air Italy used to maintain two subsidiaries, which meanwhile both ceased to exist:
- Air Italy Egypt was created in 2007 under the name Euro Mediterranean Airlines as a subsidiary based in Egypt, which initially operated a single Boeing 757-200 that was later replaced by a Boeing 737-800. In September 2009, Euro Mediterranean Airlines was rebranded as Air Italy Egypt, but by the end of the same year it had vanished due to financial difficulties.
- Air Italy Polska was also established in 2007 to operate leisure flights from Poland. In 2011, it was sold to private investors and renamed to Air Poland but subsequently filed for bankruptcy and shut down in 2012.
Destinations
All of Air Italy's operations are now done on behalf of its parent, Meridiana, under the Meridiana brand.
Fleet
The Air Italy fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):[6]
Aircraft | In fleet | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
J | Y | Total | ||||
Boeing 737-300 | 2 | — | — | 148 | 148 | operated for Meridiana |
Boeing 737-700 | 3 | — | — | 148 | 148 | operated for Meridiana |
Boeing 737-800 | 6 | — | — | 189 | 189 | operated for Meridiana |
Boeing 767-200ER | 1 | — | 12 | 241 | 253 | operated for Meridiana |
Boeing 767-300ER | 3 | — | 18 | 258 | 276 | operated for Meridiana |
Total | 15 | — |
References
- ↑ "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
- 1 2 "Elenco delle imprese titolari di licenza di trasporto aereo". enac.gov.it. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
- 1 2 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 58.
- ↑ Airliner World January 2007
- ↑ http://www.meridiana.it/cms/deploy/1/IGGJ_InvestorRelations/IT/doc/investor_comunicatistampa/110718_Comunicato%20stampa%20Meridiana%20e%20Meridiana%20fly.pdf
- ↑ "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2016): 18.
External links
Media related to Air Italy at Wikimedia Commons