Meridiana Fly

Meridiana fly

IATA IG ICAO ISS Callsign MERAIR
Founded	2010 from Meridiana and Eurofly
Operating bases	Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (Rome) Malpensa Airport (Milan)
Hubs	Olbia – Costa Smeralda Airport
Focus cities	Caselle Airport (Turin) Elmas Airport (Cagliari) Fontanarossa Airport (Catania) Peretola Airport (Florence) Villafranca Airport (Verona)
Frequent-flyer program	Hi-Fly
Fleet size	34
Destinations	40
Parent company	Interprogramme (57.19%)
Headquarters	Olbia - Costa Smeralda Airport Olbia, Italy
Website	www.meridiana.it

Airbus A319

Meridiana fly is an airline with its head office on the grounds of Olbia - Costa Smeralda Airport in Olbia, Sardinia, Italy.^[1] It is Italy's second largest airline operating domestic and European services, as well as intercontinental flights. The airline mainly operates out of Cagliari-Elmas Airport, Milan Malpensa Airport and Rome Fiumicino Airport. Meridiana fly also holds numerous operations at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, Florence Airport, Olbia - Costa Smeralda Airport, Palermo International Airport and Verona Airport.^[2]

History

The airline was founded as Alisarda on March 29, 1963 by the Aga Khan, Prince Karīm al-Hussaynī, as an air-taxi and charter operator to promote tourism to Sardinia. Scheduled services began in 1964 from Olbia. In 1989, 35% of new stock was released to new shareholders to strengthen the company and the name Meridiana was adopted on 3 May 1991. The first international services were operated later in 1991 to Barcelona, Paris, London and Frankfurt. A 29.95% stake in Eurofly was acquired in December 2006. The name then changed to Meridiana Fly, following the Meridiana-Eurofly merger. Meridiana fly is owned by Interprogramme (57.19%), SA AgaKhan (17.59%), employees (16.08%), Airfin (in liquidation) (4.51%), Fondazione Cariplo (3.39%) and other shareholders (1.24%). It has 1,358 employees (at March 2007).^[2]

During 2004, Meridiana replaced four BAe 146-200s with four leased Airbus A319-100s, and has plans for a fifth. In January 2004 it was reported that Meridiana was planning to replace its McDonnell Douglas MD-82 fleet with 17 Airbus A320-200s.

In 2006 it transported over 4.6 million people, a 15.7% increase compared to 2005 figures.

Logo of Eurofly until 2010

Merger with Eurofly

On 28 February 2010, Meridiana and Eurofly merged to create Italy's second biggest airline, Meridiana fly. The aircraft of both airlines are being repainted with a new interim livery. However Eurofly's GJ code will be replaced by Meridiana's IG code.^[3] The new airline will serve a total of 7 intercontinental, 16 European and Mediterranean, and 18 domestic destinations.

Possible merger with Alitalia

On 12 February 2011, Il Messaggero reported that Alitalia and Meridiana are in merger talks. The airlines’ boards have yet to make a decision about combining. A merger may take place through a share swap and give the Aga Khan who controls Meridiana between 5 percent and 7 percent of Alitalia, according to Il Messaggero. That would correspond to a valuation of Meridiana of about 100 million euros ($135 million), the paper said.^[4]

Merger with Air Italy

Logo for Air Italy

On 18 July 2011, Meridiana fly announced the merger with Air Italy ^[5]. The new group will become the main charter operator in the Italian market and more prominent in Europe. Post merger, the airline group will scale down the fleet by 13 aircraft.^[6]

Loyalty programme

Hi-Fly

Hi-Fly is the loyalty programme of Meridiana Fly. The program consists of two levels. The Hi-Fly level allows for the accumulation of miles for the redemption of travel and merchandise. The Fly Pass Club can be earned by flying 12,000 miles or purchased.

VIP Lounge

Meridiana operates a VIP lounge at Olbia Airport. The airline also contracts lounge access for Flypass members at various destinations served by the carrier.

Destinations

Main article: Meridiana Fly destinations

Meridiana MD-82 landing at Fiumicino Airport, Rome

Meridiana MD-82 in Olbia

Codeshare agreements

Meridiana fly has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

• Air Berlin (future Oneworld member)
• Air Malta
• Air Moldova
• British Airways (Oneworld)
• Finnair (Oneworld)
• Iberia (Oneworld)
• Wind Jet

Fleet

The "new" Meridiana fly company has a fleet of 34 aircraft:

Meridiana fly Fleet^[7]

Aircraft	Total	Passengers			Notes
		J	Y	Total
Airbus A319	4	12	116	128	In Meridiana Livery1 Used for flights to/from Florence Peretola Airport
Airbus A320-200	12	0	180	180	In Eurofly and Meridiana livery1
Airbus A330-200	3	26	256	282	In Eurofly livery
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	15	0	165	165	In Meridiana livery2
Total	36

Fleet Notes

¹ A number of A320 and A319 aircraft are being painted in an all white interim livery until a new design is completed.

² Meridiana Fly will be eliminating nine MD-8x aircraft as part of its restructuring plan.^[8]

References

1. ^ "Read the Legal Info of Meridiana fly S.p.a." Meridiana Fly. Retrieved on 22 June 2010. "Meridiana fly S.p.A. Centro direzionale Aeroporto Costa Smeralda 07026 Olbia, Italia "
2. ^ ^{a b} "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 49. 2007-04-10. 
3. ^ http://www.meridiana.it/en/company_informations/index.aspx Meridiana and Eurofly merge to become Meridiana fly
4. ^ Alitalia, Meridiana Fly Are in Merger Talks, Messaggero Reports (Bloomberg, 12 February 2011)
5. ^ http://www.meridiana.it/cms/deploy/1/IGGJ_InvestorRelations/IT/doc/investor_comunicatistampa/110718_Comunicato%20stampa%20Meridiana%20e%20Meridiana%20fly.pdf
6. ^ Flightglobal. "Meridiana Fly/Air Italy to reduce fleet post-merger". http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/meridiana-flyair-italy-to-reduce-fleet-post-merger--361880/. 
7. ^ http://www.meridiana.it/en/company_informations/Fleet.aspx Meridiana fly Fleet
8. ^ CH-Aviation. "Meridiana". http://www.ch-aviation.ch/airlinepage.php?code1=IGF. 

External links

	Italy portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

• Official website (Italian)
• Official website (English)
• Route Map - Meridiana (English)
• Route Map - Air Italy (English)
• Facebook (Italian)
• YouTube channel (Italian)
• Air Italy - Subsidiary (English)