AIR MALTA has purchased two AI(R) Avro RJ85s to start its new Italian-based venture AzzuraAir. The airline expects to add a third aircraft to the order by the end of July (Flight International, 22-28 May).
Joseph Tabone, the Air Malta chairman, says that he expects to launch AzzuraAir formally within the next few weeks and have the regional airline flying in "the first week of December".
To be based at Bergamo, northern Italy, AzzuraAir will be 49% owned by Air Malta, with the remaining shares held by Italian banks and business investors led by "promoting partners" Medico Credito Centrale and IMS, according to Tabone.
The Air Malta shareholding is the maximum amount allowed to a non-European Union (EU) carrier. Tabone says that although Malta has applied for EU membership, the carrier in the meantime "-hopes to take advantage of the `third package' [final intra-EU liberalisation measures effective in January 1997]" through AzzuraAir.
The RJ85s, which have a 92-seat two-class cabin configuration, will be operated on "a quality service" from Bergamo to Rome and Turin in Italy, London City Airport, UK, and to "destinations in Switzerland and Germany".
There is a possibility that Turin might become a secondary hub, Tabone says.
Source: Flight International
