Surprising statement following the company's shareholders' meeting Air Italy on 11 February. At 2.30pm, a press release announced that the carrier had gone into liquidation. Air Italyformerly Meridiana. To his creation in February 2018The future looked bright for this company a 49% in the hands of the powerful Qatar Airways. The strategy was simple for Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. Air Italy would quickly become Italy's new air standard, with a service modelled on that of Qatar Airways and a network of medium-haul and long-haul routes. Air Italy's positioning at Milan Malpensa was to conquer the very Italy's lucrative business market. As soon as it was launched, the company announced the opening of routes on BangkokDelhi, Cairo, New YorkToronto in addition to a number of domestic and European routes, most of which were inherited from Meridiana. At the time, Akbar Al Baker announced that by the end of the year 2022the carrier would have 50 aircraft - essentially A350s - and that it would be counting on 10 million passengers1.94 million in 2018.
A company that has remained marginal
Based on Italian civil aviation passenger traffic statistics, Air Italy was only in thirteenth place, far behind the quartet Ryanair (37.88 million passengers in Italy), the Alitalia group (21.98 million passengers), easyJet (18.48 million) and Vueling (6.24 million). Even the Air France/KLM group had higher traffic than Air Italy, with 4.88 million passengers in 2018...
The company has never managed to get out of the red in this way: 164 million in losses 200 million for the 2019 financial year. Negative results linked to a number of factors: launch of the brand and new lines, ban on flights by 737MAX - forcing Air Italy to lease other aircraft - and poor economic health in Italy and around the world.
Finally, thelack of hub strategy between Europe and the rest of the world at Milan Malpensa has prevented Air Italy from establishing itself as a new alternative to its competitors. hubs long-established destinations such as Munich, Paris CDG or simply... Rome Fiumicinofief ofAlitalia.
In 2019, the carrier closed its routes to Asia and then reduced its US network, handing over one of its five Airbus A330s. At 1 February, the carrier operated just nine of its own aircraft.
A Qatar without power
For several months, Air Italy had been seeking the new financing it needed to continue operating. No agreement could be reached on a recovery plan which provided for an immediate financial commitment of around 340 million euros to be divided between the Aga Khan and minority shareholder Qatar Airways.
In fact, the Qatari company finds itself in an awkward position. By increasing its stake in the company, it would have become majority shareholderwhich would have caused Air Italy to lose its European Union airline status. This status had already been called into question by the White House in the United States under lobbying from American carriers. The latter tried to block Air Italy's expansion in the United States by every possible means, on the pretext that authorising flights by the Italian airline was in fact tacitly authorising Qatar Airways. The embargo has instead borne fruit by cooling Air Italy's shareholders' desire to expand across the Atlantic.
For passengers, Air Italy will continue tooperate its flights until 25 February by chartering various aircraft from other carriers to carry passengers. After this date, all passengers booked on flights departing after 25 February will be re-routed or refunded in full, according to a press release.
In a public statement, the Minister for Transport Paola de Micheli stated that this decision was unacceptable because it had not been discussed in advance with the government. According to the minister, an alternative solution could have been found, but the disappearance of Air Italy would have had a serious impact on air traffic in Italy, particularly in Milan and Lombardy, a region that is highly susceptible to the sirens of populism. Air Italy's shareholders are unlikely to back down, but who knows? The "Italian Miracle" does exist...
