Siste nytt fra Italia - AW&ST

Meridiana’s Air Italy Rebrand Marks New Ambition Helen Massy-Beresford As Air Italy sets out its ambitious plans for growth and market dominance, 49% shareholder Qatar Airways will be hoping that this big push in Italy will be more successful than its Gulf counterpart Etihad Airways’ foray into the market through its Alitalia stake. Last year, Qatar Airways bought 49% of AQA Holding, the new parent company of Meridiana, leaving 51% in the hands of previous owner Alisarda, which dates its name and origins to 1963 and a mission to encourage the emerging tourism industry on Sardinia. The airline has seen its fair share of upheaval, changing its name to Meridiana in 1991 and growing through a 2010 merger with Eurofly, but struggling with losses in recent years, not helped by the rise of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in Italy. ·         Meridiana rebranding as Air Italy in bid for market dominance ·         Alitalia’s slow-moving sale process could be an opportunity for Air Italy ·         Air Italy wants 10 million passengers a year by 2022 ·         Qatar Airways holds 49% of Air Italy Now it’s looking to the future with another new identity to accompany the new ambition: Air Italy, a brand previously limited to the group’s charter subsidiary, has stepped into the spotlight with a bold new turquoise and burgundy livery, echoing Qatar’s own branding. On Feb. 19, the airline set out its strategy to become Italy’s biggest carrier with the help of a fleet swelled by the arrival of 20 Boeing 737-8s previously ordered by Qatar, which are due to start arriving beginning in April 2018, and five Airbus A330-200s from Qatar’s fleet, arriving this spring and which from May 2019 will be replaced by Boeing 787-8s.

Air Italy’s new turquoise-and-burgundy livery echoes Qatar’s branding. Credit: Boeing

Armed with that rapidly growing fleet, Air Italy aims to have about 50 aircraft by 2022, up from its current eight Boeing 737NGs and three Boeing 767-300s, the latter of which are due to leave the fleet by the end of 2018. The carrier is looking to profit from the woes of ailing legacy carrier Alitalia, whose prolonged bankruptcy process continues. Almost a year after Alitalia filed for bankruptcy and after a complicated bidding process, Cerberus Capital Management, EasyJet and Lufthansa are still in the running to take over parts of Alitalia, but the final choice has been effectively put on hold until after Italy’s general election on March 4. Even when that obstacle is cleared, the next steps are unlikely to be straightforward; EasyJet says it is interested only in parts of Alitalia, and Lufthansa warns that significant restructuring would be needed before it would take it over. Alitalia’s dramatic slide into insolvency in May 2017 highlights the challenges in store for Air Italy in a fiercely competitive market in which low-cost carriers have made huge inroads. To succeed in such a tough environment, Air Italy plans long-haul launches, starting with flights to New York and Miami from its Milan Malpensa Airport hub beginning in June.

Aircraft already ordered by Qatar Airways will boost Air Italy’s fleet. Credit: Bjorn Strey/Wikipedia

While the initial activity will focus on the carrier’s Milan operations, the first long-haul Air Italy flight from Rome is due to begin next year. September will see the launch of a four-times-weekly Milan-Bangkok service operated by an Airbus A330-200, and the carrier plans to open three more long-haul routes by the end of the year, with a long-term plan to serve 50 destinations by 2022. That mirrors the transatlantic push of recent years from European carriers, with International Airlines Group launching new destinations through its legacy airline and its new low-cost, long-haul carrier Level; Air France-KLM signing a major partnership with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic to help it grow in that region; and Norwegian Air Shuttle continuing its advance. Will Air Italy be able to offer prices and service that compete in the already crowded—and getting more so—transatlantic sphere? Wresting back business from LCCs, which have grown so fast in Italy that they now control about half the market, will be vital if Air Italy is to be successful, not least for the connecting potential of domestic flights. Dublin-based Ryanair, which now boasts 28% of the Italian market, chose Italy to launch its connecting flight services, first at Milan Bergamo Airport and then at Rome Fiumicino, and was a contender to bid for Alitalia until its own flight cancellations crisis threw a wrench in the works. Setting out its winter 2018 schedule for Italy, which includes 37 new routes and increased frequencies on 18 existing ones, Ryanair says it expects 39 million passengers and 5% growth in Italy this year. British LCC EasyJet has a market share of 12% and is Italy’s third-largest airline, flying from 19 Italian airports, with more than 17 million passengers carried in 2017. It has 21 aircraft based at Milan Malpensa, five in Naples and seven in Venice. Well aware of the potential for domestic routes to feed these long-haul services—if it can lure passengers away from Ryanair and EasyJet—Air Italy is putting in place a network of new domestic routes from Rome, Naples, Palermo, Catania and Lamezia Terme, as of May 1. But whether it can compete with the strength of the LCCs remains to be seen.