Meridiana fly (IG, Olbia) is set to withdraw from the Italian financial markets at the beginning of May after the struggling Italian airline's plan to buy back all of the publicly traded shares has been approved by both CONSOB, the Italian regulatory authority and Borsa Italiana, the Italian stock market firm. According to market reports, Meridiana has issued a Suspension of Trading notice to run from April 15 until May 10. New CEO, Roberto Scaramella, had previously expressed his commitment to rehabilitating the company, with hopes for a turn around pinned on a successful Summer season. Meridiana (IG, Olbia) will again be used as the main brand of the carrier group with Meridiana fly (IG, Olbia) and Air Italy (I9, Milan Malpensa) operating on Meridiana's behalf going forward.

Meridiana (IG, Olbia) will be used as the commercial brand of Meridiana fly (IG, Olbia) going forward with both Meridiana fly and Air Italy (I9, Milan Malpensa) operating flights on behalf of Meridiana on a wet-lease basis. Both carriers have already started rebranding their aircraft in Meridiana livery. The “fly” part of Meridiana’s brand now being dropped again was introduced back in 2010 as a result of Meridiana’s merger with Eurofly (GJ, Milan Malpensa). The combined Meridiana fleet currently consists of seven A320-200s, nine MD-82s and one MD-83 operated by Meridiana fly and two B737-300s, three B737-700s, two B737-800s, one B767-200(ER) and two B767-300(ER)s operated by Air Italy. Meridiana fly also operates an A330-200 on behalf of Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Atatürk).

Dutch Antilles Express (9H, Curacao) plans to lease ex-Meridiana fly (IG, Olbia) MD-83 N307MS from US lessor Jetran International as the first of two MD-83s it will operate on its own air operator certificate. The Curacao based carrier has recently been fully acquired by former Aeropostal - Alas de Venezuela (VH, Caracas Simón Bolivar) owner Nelson Ramiz after a period of restructuring. DAE plans to use the aircraft to launch new routes from Curacao to Lima and Quito Int'l later this year. It also plans to replace Fokker 100s on routes to Maracaibo and Valencia Arturo Michelena Int'l. DAE currently already uses various MD-83s wet-lease from Falcon Air Express (6F, Miami Int'l) for its twice daily service between Curacao and Miami Int'l since it cannot operate to the US with its own aircraft due to Curacao's Category 2 status with the US Federal Aviation Administration. It plans to eventually replace the MD-83s and Fokker 100s with newer A319-100s and A320-200s once it is allowed to serve the US itself again.

Meridiana fly (IG, Olbia) has already completed the retirement of its remaining fleet of three A319-100s and has returned all of its aircraft to the lessors within the last 10 days. It has also withdrawn four of its ten A320-200s and one A330-200 from service already as previously announced in early December. Its fleet now consists of just six A320-200s, nine MD-82s and one MD-83 but Meridiana fly also use aircraft from sister carrier Air Italy (I9, Milan Malpensa) that is expected to be fully merged into Meridiana fly next month.

Air Italy (I9, Milan Malpensa) and sister carrier Meridiana fly (IG, Olbia) have both had their full air operator certificates revoked by Italian civil aviation authority ENAC this week due to the financial difficulties of the two carriers. Both have now been issued temporary air operator certificates instead that will expire in one year. During a turbulent board of directors meeting following the decison, the carriers have decided to fully merge Air Italy into Meridiana fly from February 15 onwards and to replace CEO Giuseppe Gentile by Roberto Scaramella based on a proposal by Meridiana founder and minority investor Aga Khan. The existing Meridiana investors included the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development will also acquire the 38.71% stake in Meridiana fly and Air Italy currently owned by the Air Italy Holding in which Gentile also owns a share.