Meridiana

Meridiana S.p.A., operating as Meridiana (formerly named Meridiana fly S.p.A), was a privately owned Italian airline headquartered in Olbia with its main base at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport. It operated scheduled and charter flights to domestic, European and intercontinental destinations from several Italian bases. Some of its operations were carried out by the old Air Italy under the Meridiana brand. It was owned by Qatar Airways through AQA Holding (49%) and Alisarda S.p.A. (51%), who rebranded the airline as the new Air Italy effective 1 March 2018. 2History 3Early 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. 3Merger with Eurofly to create Meridiana fly 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 200