Meridiana Fly

Meridiana fly

IATA IG ICAO ISS Callsign MERAIR
Founded	2010 from Meridiana and Eurofly
Operating bases	Peretola Airport (Florence)
Hubs	Olbia – Costa Smeralda Airport
Secondary hubs	Elmas Airport (Cagliari) Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (Rome) Malpensa Airport (Milan)
Focus cities	Caselle Airport (Turin) Fontanarossa Airport (Catania) Villafranca Airport (Verona)
Frequent-flyer program	Hi-Fly
Fleet size	32
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. 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.

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).

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. 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.

Merger with Air Italy

Logo for Air Italy

On 18 July 2011, Meridiana fly announced the merger with Air Italy . 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.

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 Fly destinations.

  Italy

  Meridiana destinations

  Air Italy 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 (as of 19 December 2011 (2011 -12-19)):

• Air Berlin (future Oneworld member)
• Air Malta
• Air Moldova
• British Airways (Oneworld)
• Finnair (Oneworld)
• Iberia (Oneworld)
• Royal Jordanian (Oneworld)

Fleet

As of 20 February 2012 , the "new" Meridiana fly company has a fleet of 32 aircraft:

Meridiana fly Fleet

Aircraft	Total2	Passengers			Livery1	Notes
		J	Y	Total
Airbus A319	3	12	116	128	Old Meridiana or Temporary Livery1	See Fleet Note 1 and 2
Airbus A320-200	12		180	180	Eurofly or Temporary Livery	See Fleet Note 1
Airbus A330-200	3	26	256	282	Eurofly
Boeing 737-700	1		149	149	Air Italy	Leased from Air Italy & based at Naples Airport Operates flights to Linate Airport
Boeing 737-800	1		189	189	Air Poland	Leased from Air Poland & based at Malpensa Airport
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	9		165	165	Old Meridiana or Meridiana titles only	See Fleet Note 2 Currently being phased out
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	3		165	165	Old Meridiana	See Fleet Note 2 Currently being phased out
Total	31

Fleet Notes

¹ A small number of aircraft being painted all white and having temporary Meridiana Fly titles added prior to the completion of a new livery.

² Total number of aircraft includes a number of aircraft have not flown in recent months. Not sure whether they are temporarily stored for Winter season or have been removed from fleet. Below is a table showing the aircraft in question along with the date they last flew.

Stored Aircraft List

Aircraft Type	Registration	Last Flew
Airbus A319	EI-DFA	08 DEC 2011
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	I-SMEZ I-SMER I-SMEV I-SMEP	21 NOV 2011 01 JAN 2012 08 JAN 2012 01 FEB 2012
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	EI-CRE EI-CRW I-SMEN	02 NOV 2011 04 DEC 2011 08 JAN 2012

External links

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