Eurofly

Eurofly
IATA ICAO Callsign
GJ EEZ E-FLY
Founded 26 May 1989
Ceased operations 28 February 2010 (merged with Meridiana to create Meridiana fly)
Operating bases Guglielmo Marconi Airport
Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport
Malpensa Airport
Fleet size 11
Destinations 41 (combined figure for Meridiana and Eurofly)
Company slogan The Italian [air]way of life
Headquarters Milan, Italy
Website eurofly.it/EN/index.asp
A Eurofly Douglas DC-9 in the original livery at Dublin Airport.
A Eurofly Airbus A319 seen in 2006.

Eurofly was a privately owned airline based in Milan, Italy.[1] Listed on MTA Stock Exchange and controlled by Meridiana, it was Italy’s leading carrier in leisure flights market and mainly operated international, medium to long haul, point-to-point flights.

Medium-haul activity was centered mainly on operations to Egypt and the Red Sea Riviera, Spain and Greece. Long haul included some of Italians’ preferred tropical destinations like the Maldives and Sri Lanka or Africa. Furthermore, during the summer season, Eurofly operated non-stop scheduled flights to New York City, exploiting the reverse seasonality of if compared to tropical destinations and focusing on incoming traffic to Italy.

In 2010, the airline merged with Meridiana to form Meridiana fly (but returned to its name Meridiana after merging with Air Italy).

History

The airline was established on 26 May 1989 with the aim of selling medium haul flights to tour operators. Eurofly started its operations on 26 February 1990. It was set up with a 45% shareholding by Alitalia in response to the needs of the flag carrier to develop the leisure travel market. The original shareholding was divided between Alitalia (45%), Olivetti (45%) and San Paolo Finance (10%). There have been several changes of ownership since.[2]

Long-haul operations started in 1998 and in 2000, Alitalia acquired full control. In 2003, the company was privatized with 80% being sold to the Banca Profilo Spinnaker fund which acquired the remaining shares in July 2004. In the same year, Eurofly set-up an operations base in Sharm el Sheikh with two Airbus A320-200 aircraft operating flights to several regional airports in Italy.

At the end of 2006, Spinnaker sold a 29,95% stake in Eurofly capital to Meridiana. Mr Giovanni Rossi (CEO of Meridiana) became CEO of Eurofly.

In January 2008, two capital increases took place and Meridiana participation in Eurofly's capital grew to 46.1%.

On 28 February 2010, Meridiana and Eurofly merged to create Italy's second biggest airline. The new airline is called Meridiana fly (Later Replaced & Return To Meridiana former name after the Merge Of Air Italy). For now both airlines aircraft will continue to carry their individual logos. However Eurofly's GJ code will immediately disappear and be replaced by Meridiana's IG code.[3]

By 2013 & 2014, All Of Eurofly Airbus fleet that was merged with Meridiana to create Meridiana Fly (later to return to its former name Meridiana after merging with Air Italy) were by Boeing aircraft to pursue the aim of operating an all Boeing fleet together with Air Italy. All Airbus aircraft Eurofly formerly owned are currently still flying under its new owners..[4]

Destinations

Fleet

The Eurofly fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of February 2010). As of 4 July 2009, the average age of the Eurofly fleet was 6.8 years ().

Eurofly Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A320-200 9 — — 180 180
Airbus A330-200 3 — 26 256 282
Total 12 —

References

  1. ↑ "Contacts." Eurofly. Retrieved on 29 November 2010. "Eurofly S.p.a. Via Ettore Bugatti, 15 20142 Milano."
  2. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. pp. 78–79.
  3. ↑ http://www.meridiana.it/en/company_informations/index.aspx Meridiana and Eurofly merge to become Meridiana fly
  4. ↑ "Meridiana completes A319-100 retirement". ch-aviation. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
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