Early years The company was set up with the name of
Alisarda on 29 March 1963 by
Aga Khan Prince Karīm al-Hussaynī with the aim of promoting tourism in Sardinia. Scheduled flights commenced in 1964. On 3 May 1991 in an Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting, the name of the company was changed to Meridiana S.p.A., and a new logo was created. These changes were made to reflect the expansion of the company's operations to Europe. At the end of 1999 the company had a 17% Italian market share, 1,500 employees, 21 aircraft, and flew to 16 domestic destinations.
Merger with Eurofly to create Meridiana fly operated by
Eurofly In December 2006, Meridiana acquired the majority package of the airline company
Eurofly, with a 29,95% share. During the year, further important investments were made aiming to develop Meridiana, which also closed 2006 with the historical record of 4,6 million passengers carried with an approximate 15% increase compared to 2005. At the end of February 2010, Meridiana fly, the second-largest carrier in Italy, was created by the merger of Eurofly, a company specialized in long-haul charter flights to holiday destinations, and Meridiana, a scheduled operator of national and European flights, with the primary objective of connecting the main Italian airports with Sardinia and Sicily.
Meridiana's acquisition of Air Italy In October 2011, Meridiana fly completely acquired
Air Italy, an Italian charter airline. On 16 January 2013, the Board of Directors of Meridiana S.p.A. acknowledged the agreement for the purchase by Meridiana S.p.A. of all the Meridiana fly ordinary shares held by the former shareholders of Air Italy Holding S.r.l. Today the group is run by Meridiana S.p.A. Holding, which controls 89% of Meridiana fly including 100% of Air Italy; the remaining part is quoted to the Milan Stock Exchange but a
tender offer was recently launched to delist the company.
Redevelopment into the new Meridiana previously operated by Meridiana In April 2013, when the Air Italy merger was completed, Meridiana Fly returned to its former, shorter name,
Meridiana. On 16 May, it launched the new frequent-flyer program Meridiana Club in partnership with
Avios. In mid-2013, Meridiana offered national and international scheduled flights from the main Italian airports to Sardinia (Olbia, Alghero, and Cagliari), Sicily and Naples as well as holiday destinations such as the Canary Islands, Greece, and the Red Sea. It also serviced the long-haul destinations of the Maldives, Mauritius, Kenya, Zanzibar, Santo Domingo, and Brazil mainly from Milan Malpensa and/or Rome Fiumicino. In 2014, the airline continued to reposition its brand by launching international flights to Moscow Domodedovo, London Gatwick, Kyiv, Tel Aviv and Nice from Naples and to Brussels, Geneva, London Gatwick, Tel Aviv, Nice, Hamburg, Paris CDG, Moscow Domodedovo and Kyiv from Olbia; reconfirming its leadership in Sardinia and its focus on Naples, Catania, Milan Linate and Verona airport for domestic Italian flights. Since 18 November 2014 Meridiana Club frequent flyers have been able to earn Avios points on
British Airways and from 23 March 2015 on
Iberia. In December 2014, Meridiana retired its last
Airbus aircraft, two A320-200s, to pursue the aim of operating an all
Boeing fleet together with Air Italy.
Meridiana ownership under AQA Holding On 2 September 2017 it was announced that
Qatar Airways had bought 49% of AQA Holding, the new shareholder of Meridiana. On 7 November 2017 it was announced that Qatar Airways would merge Air Italy with the current Meridiana subsidiary under the Meridiana AOC. In December 2017, Meridiana announced a restructuring of its route network. While all routes from Milan-Linate except the services to its base in Olbia will be terminated, Meridiana will start year-round long-haul services from Milan-Malpensa to
New York City and
Miami using
Airbus A330-200 aircraft inherited from Qatar Airways. Meridiana further announced that it would become the first Italian airline to take delivery of
Boeing 737 MAX 8s. It was also reported that new full-flat business class seats and in-flight Wi-fi would be installed on the new Airbus A330s to be received from Qatar Airways. In February 2018, Meridiana rebranded as
Air Italy and announced a plan to expand its fleet and destinations to become Italy's flagship carrier. Air Italy ceased operations in early 2020. == Corporate affairs ==