Marco Bonelli/ROME
Italian charter airline Eurofly, controlled 45% by Alitalia, has revealed plans to introduce long haul services, beginning by the end of this year.
The carrier is seeking at least two Boeing 767-300ERs, which could be purchased by Alitalia, in addition to the three leased 767s taken on board for its low cost Alitalia Team subsidiary.
Eurofly already operates short and medium haul flights with four leased Boeing MD-83s and two owned DC-9-50s and wants to add a fifth MD-83 to its medium range fleet. Since October 1997 it has been operating scheduled domestic and East European routes on the Alitalia network under a wet-lease arrangement, and has already expressed interest in taking on some of Alitalia's scheduled European Union routes that have been released as part of the European Commission's (EC's) conditions for state aid.
Competitors are concerned that the new 767s may be used to get around the EC's restrictions on Alitalia's capacity growth ,especially on the potentially busy hub at Milan Malpensa, where all Milanese traffic will be concentrated from 26 October. The EC agreement does, however, also put a limit on growth by Alitalia's subsidiaries and associates as well as on the mainline airline.
Meanwhile, Alitalia is believed to be looking to build up its regional fleet with at least 15 aircraft in the 70-100 seat range. The airline says that neither the Aero International (Regional) Avro RJ family nor the Boeing 717-200 entirely meet its requirements, although Boeing is known to have provided outline details of its 100-seater.
Rekkof Restart, which is attempting to relaunch the Fokker 70/100, is also understood to have made a proposal.
The Italian carrier originally selected the Fokker 70 for its short haul needs, signing a contract for 15 aircraft in 1995. Alitalia cancelled the order after just five aircraft had been delivered and disposed of the fleet, as a result of Fokker's shut down.
Source: Flight International
