Meridiana S.p.A., and later Meridiana fly, was an Italian airline active in scheduled and charter air transport, operating on a national and international scale. The company's headquarters were located in Olbia (north-eastern Sardinia), while the main hub was Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport.Meridiana, Meridiana-who we are, on meridiana.it websitecorporate brochure, Meridiana, Olbia, late 1991 The airline, which since 2013 also fully controlled the fellow Italian airline Air Italy, was itself lately controlled by AQA Holding. On 1 March 2018, the air carrier changed its name to Air Italy, maintaining the same flight codes.
History
Alisarda's legacy
On 3 May 1991, the extraordinary shareholders' meeting of Alisarda resolved to change the company name to Meridiana S.p.A. effective 1 September, and a new logo was created. These changes were made to reflect the expansion of the company's operations to Europe. That same year, new national and international flights were inaugurated from Verona and Florence. A large hangar was built at the Tuscan capital's airport to house and maintain the recently delivered BAe.146s.corporate brochure, Meridiana, Olbia, late 1991 The British four-engine aircraft immediately opened new routes from the Tuscan capital to Catania and Palermo.R. Baldini, "Firenze-Il cielo racconta", Edizioni Medicea, Firenze, 1993 In 1992, the fleet consisted of 16 aircraft, including McDonnell Douglas MD-82s, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51s, and British Aerospace 146-200s. The company employed 1,414 people. That same year, it carried 1,932,000 passengers, generating an operating turnover of 342 billion Liras. By the end of the 1990s, passengers had risen to 3,075,000, reaching 3,531,000 in 2000. At the end of 1999 the company had a 17% Italian market share, 1,500 employees, 21 aircraft, and flew to 16 domestic destinations.Press documentation, Meridiana, Olbia, May 1998
Two mergers in four years
On 19 July 2011, a plan to integrate and acquire fellow Italian charter airline Air Italy was announced. In October, Meridiana fly completely acquired the airline.joint brochure, "Meridiana fly" & "Air Italy", late 2011, distributed at BIT Fair in Milan, February 2012
In January 2013, following unfavorable financial results and worsening debt, the Aga Khan regained control of the company, recapitalizing it with €uros 190 million. After an initial period of distinction between Meridiana fly and Air Italy, a rebranding process began in the following month of March. In April 2013, when the Air Italy Meridiana Fly returned to its former, shorter name, Meridiana. The Group adopted a common livery and logo, ensuring that Air Italy and Meridiana fly operated together as airlines with the same commercial offering."Meridiana drops "fly" brand name, Air Italy to become ACMI provider". ch-aviation. 29 March 2013. From then on, even though all flights were operated as Meridiana, two Air Operator Certificates (AOC) remained valid, with their respective operating structures, flight crews, and employment contracts. On 16 May, it launched the new frequent-flyer program Meridiana Club in partnership with Avios. Since 18 November 2014 Meridiana Club frequent flyers were able to earn Avios points on British Airways and from 23 March 2015 on Iberia. In that same December 2014, Meridiana retired its last Airbus aircraft, two A320-200s, to pursue the aim of operating an all Boeing fleet together with Air Italy.
In 2015, the international flight schedule included the following destinations:travel agencies information, Meridiana, Olbia, 5 October 2015 from Ancona: Sharm-el-Sheikh from Bergamo: Cabo Verde, Marsa Alam, Sharm-el-Sheikh from Milan (Malpensa airport): Dakar, Fort-de-France, Fortaleza, Fuerteventura, Havana, La Romana, Malé, Marsa Alam, Mauritius, Mombasa, Natal, Pemba Island, Santa Clara, Sharm-el-Sheikh, Teneriffe, Varadero, Zanzibar from Milan (Linate airport): Munich from Neaples: London, Madrid from Rome (Fiumicino airport): Fuerteventura, Marsa Alam, Mauritius, Mombasa, Sharm-el-Sheikh, Teneriffe, Zanzibar from Verona: Cancun, Fuerteventura, Havana, Marsa Alam, Mombasa, Sharm-el-Sheikh
At the same time, the following Italian cities were connected to each other:travel agencies information, Meridiana, Olbia, 5 October 2015 Bergamo, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Milan (both Linate and Malpensa airports), Neaples, Olbia, Rome, Turin. Verona.
AQA Holding and Qatar Airways partner
On 14 July 2016, an agreement was signed for Qatar Airways to purchase a stake in Meridiana fly.press release, Meridiana, Olbia, late July 2016 The contract allowed the company to relaunch after years of crisis, thanks to an industrial plan aimed at repaying the Group's debt and growing the brand. On 28 September 2017, Qatar Airways officially acquired 49% of AQA Holding, established earlier that month by Alisarda S.p.A. to control the two airlines.press release, Meridiana, Olbia, 28 September 2017 In the following December, the airline announced the restructuring of its network: all routes from Milan-Linate would be abolished with the exception of that to Olbia, while destinations from Milan-Malpensa to New York and Miami would be added, operated with Airbus A330-200s leased from Qatar Airways."Meridiana fly announces first US routes, fleet growth", ch-aviation, 16 December 2017 Meridiana further announced that it would become the first Italian airline to take delivery of Boeing 737 MAX 8s. It was also reported that new full-flat business class seats and in-flight Wi-fi would be installed on the new Airbus A330s to be received from Qatar Airways.
Again Air Italy
On 1 March 2018, Meridiana officially changed its name to Air Italy (2nd airline with this corporate name)."Qatar Airways CEO: Meridiana To Rebrand As Air Italy", One Mile at a Time, Lucky, 7 November 2017)press release, Air Italy, Olbia, 1 March 2018 The change included a new livery and an increase in domestic and international destinations. All of this was intended to make the airline "Italy's national carrier"."Air Italy expands as UAE-backed Alitalia goes bankrupt", Al Jazeera, retrieved 19 February 2018 In reality, things turned out quite differently, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officially declared on 30 January 2020. As early as February 11, Air Italy resolved to go into voluntary liquidation and cease flight operations.press release, Air Italy, Olbia, 12 February 2020
Corporate affairs
Head office
Meridiana's head office was located at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport in Olbia city, Sardinia, Italy.
Subsidiaries Meridiana had four subsidiaries.
Air Italy (2005–2018) since April 2013 and which will become Meridiana name as from March 1, 2018 Meridiana Maintenance S.p.A., the maintenance company established after Meridiana merged with eurofly. The facilities were located at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport, next to the Meridiana headquarter. Wokita S.i.r was a tour operator that offered a wide and extensive range of tourist products such as package tours, flights, hotels, and resorts in seaside areas, yachting, and activity holidays since 2006. Meridiana Air S.A., a Spanish 29% owned airline which firstly coordinated and later took over the operations of three local airlines"Costituita la nuova compagnia aerea spagnola Meridiana S.A.", Borsa e Finanza, Milan, 1 April 1990press information, Meridiana S.A., Madrid, June 1991
Codeshare agreements Meridiana codeshared with the following airlines:
Air Malta Air Moldova Blue Air Blue Panorama Airlines British Airways Iberia S7 Airlines
Fleet At the time of change to Air Italy, Meridiana fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
AircraftIn serviceOrdersPassengersNotes J Y TotalBoeing 737-7001——149 149 Transferred to Air ItalyBoeing 737-8007——189189Transferred to Air ItalyBoeing 767-300ER3—12276288Transferred to Air Italy—304304Total11—
Historical fleet Meridiana previously operated the following aircraft types:
AircraftTotalIntroducedRetiredRemark Airbus A319-100 5 2004 2010 EI-DEY, EI-DEZ, EI-DFA,EI-DFP, I-EEZQ Airbus A320-200 12 2010 2015 Airbus A330-200 3 2010 2015 I-EEZJ, I-EEZM, EI-EZL ATR 42–300 3 2001 2010 LY-ARI leased from DOT LTD-BCRP, D-BCROleased from Avanti Air Boeing 737-300 2 2016 2016 EI-IGR, EI-IGS on lease Boeing 737-400 1 2014 2017 9H-AMW on lease Boeing 737-700 4 2013 2018 Boeing 737-800 9 2013 2018 Boeing 767-200 1 2014 I-AIGH< Boeing 767-300ER 3 2014 2018 British Aerospace 146-200 7 1991 2005 British Aerospace 146-300 4 1991 1992 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 6 1991 1999 McDonnell Douglas MD-82 9 2013 2018 McDonnell Douglas MD-83 12 1991 2010
Gallery
See also Transport in Italy List of companies of Italy
References
Further reading
External links