Azzurra Air

Azzurra Air
Airbus A320-200
IATA ICAO Call sign
ZS AZI Azzurra
FoundedDecember 1995
Commenced operations
December 1996
Ceased operations
March 2004
Focus citiesRome and Bergamo, Italy
Fleet size12
Destinations54
Parent companyAir Malta,
Air International Services
HeadquartersMilan, Italy
Key peopleFausto Capalbo
(Chairman, Board of Directors)
Websitewww.azzurraair.it

Azzurra Air was a scheduled and charter airline based in Milan, Italy and flying to Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal and other Mediterranean destinations.

History

The airline was established in December 1995 and was a joint venture by the Italian investment group Air International Services (51%) and by Air Malta (49%). It started operations in December 1996. By the end of 1999, a significant portion of the business was carried out on behalf of Alitalia with BAe 146s, some of them in the full colours of the Italian flag carrier. AIS shares were purchased by UK based 7 Group in 2003, anticipating the purchase of Air Malta shares later that year.

In November 2003 it was announced that Azzurra Air was to take over French airline Air Littoral, but this fell through in the following month as Azzurra Air was in financial difficulties.[1] In March 2004 operations were suspended when its regional fleet was withdrawn by lessor and co-owner Air Malta due to non-payment of leases. It had just over 400 employees. The company was declared bankrupt in July 2004. It had five Airbus A320-200 aircraft on order at the time.

Services

Azzurra Air only operated one scheduled service from Bergamo to Rome using a Boeing 737-700, started on November 2, 1999. All other services were charter operations.[2]

Fleet

The aircraft fleet included[3]:

AircraftImageTotalIntroducedRetiredRemark
Airbus A320-200220032004leased
Boeing 737-300119992001leased from Air Malta
Boeing 737-700719992004leased
BAe 146-200119981999leased from Aer Lingus
Avro RJ70519972003Operated for Alitalia
Avro RJ85319962003Operated for Alitalia

References

  1. ↑ Air Littoral future still uncertain
  2. ↑ G. Endres & Air Transport Intelligence, "World Airlines 2004" Directory, Flight International weekly magazine, U.K.
  3. ↑ G. Endres & Air Transport Intelligence, "World Airlines 2004" Directory, Flight International weekly magazine, U.K.

Further reading

  • M. & S. Iarossi (curators), Compagnie Aeree (in Italian language), EDAI, Firenze, 1999/2000 edition
  • N. Pedde, Almanacco delle Linee Aeree Italiane 1947-2007 (in Italian language), "Landra Helicus", GAN, Roma, 2007, ISBN 978-88-89640-06-7
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Azzurra Air.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.