C.A.I. Second

"Volare Airlines" redirects here. For the Ukrainian cargo airline, see Volare Airlines (Ukraine).
C.A.I. Second[1]
IATA ICAO Callsign
VE[1] VLE VOLA
Founded 14 April 2006
Commenced operations January 1, 2008 (2008-01-01)
Ceased operations 11 February 2015
Operating bases Linate Airport
Frequent-flyer program MilleMiglia
Alliance SkyTeam
Fleet size 1
Parent company Alitalia
Headquarters Fiumicino, Rome, Italy
Website alitalia.com

C.A.I. Second S.p.A. was[2] an Italian airline operating flights for its parent company, Alitalia, to preserve slots at Linate Airport. For this reason Alitalia when merged with Air One didn't close C.A.I. at that time known as Volare S.p.A. and then Volareweb.com.

It used to be a low cost subsidiary of the old Alitalia-LAI. Its head office was located in Area Tecnica Sud of Terminal 1 of Milan-Malpensa International Airport, in Ferno, Varese, Italy,[3] and it ceased activity with this name on 12 January 2009. The airline was then used to operate Alitalia flights from Linate Airport as C.A.I. Second. This name was only a legal one and not used in public, all of its flights were branded as Alitalia. The airline ceased operations and was merged into Alitalia mainline by February 2015.[2]

History

Early years

At one time the airline (Volare Group) operated flights from Italy to Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania and London Luton Airport. The airline suspended its operations in November 2004 and filed for bankruptcy. The tickets on suspended flights were never refunded to passengers. Since then, the airline exited bankruptcy and, for a period, only operated Italian domestic routes.

By May 2008, Volare flew to 20 destinations in Europe. Volare's charter and leisure subsidiary Air Europe flew to other long-haul destinations. With the fusion of Alitalia-CAI and Air One later on that year, however, Air Europe was discontinued.[4]

New ownership

After bankruptcy, the Volare Group was put up for sale by the Italian Government in December 2004. Alitalia-LAI's offer for 38 million euros was the winning bid,[5] however Air One tried to block the sale by going to court. On 14 April 2006 Volare S.p.A was founded.[6] On 15 May 2006 the former Volare Group employees were transferred to Volare SpA (the Alitalia subsidiary).

Volare Group had its head office in Thiene, Italy and its commercial management and charter management in Milan.[7] Alitalia's offer for 38 million euros was the winning bid. On 15 May 2006 the former Volare Group employees were transferred to Volare S.p.A. In Italy, the sale of Volare is considered a soap-opera due to the multiple obstacles placed on the sale of the airline to Alitalia-LAI.

As of 1 January 2008, Volareweb was an integral part of Alitalia-LAI and was serving as the company's Italian low-cost subsidiary. Furthermore, due to Alitalia-LAI's hub switch from Milan-Malpensa to Rome-Fiumicino, several flights from Malpensa were discontinued (such as Kraków and Timişoara) and transferred to Volare. With the Alitalia-CAI-Air One fusion, these flights ceased to exist. Nowadays from Milan Malpensa Alitalia-CAI has adopted Air One as a subsidiary for low-fare flights.[8] Only one Airbus A320 coming from parent Alitalia-CAI, remained in the fleet (EI-IKB) to preserve the slots.

On 11 February 2015, the airline was dissolved and its operations integrated into Alitalia mainline.[2][9]

Destinations

Last operations

Volare Airlines code VE was used on some Alitalia flights from Milan Linate Airport (in this way, Alitalia can operate more flights than it would have been able to using a single airline, as there is a limit to the operations at Linate airport for airlines). C.A.I. First was used for the same purpose.

Former destinations

Volareweb.com, the low-cost subsidiary of Alitalia-LAI, served these destinations at the time of closure:

 Finland
 France
 Greece
 Italy
 Japan
 Malta
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Poland
 Portugal
 Romania
 Spain
 United Kingdom

Fleet

A Volareweb.com branded Airbus A320-200
A Volare Airlines branded Airbus A330-200

Prior to its shutdown in February 2015, the fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

C.A.I. Second Fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Passengers
J Y+ Y Total
Airbus A320-200 1 34 — 114 148
Total 103

Historical fleet

Volareweb.com operated the following aircraft throughout operations:[10]

The last two Volareweb.com A320's were repainted in March 2010 into the Air One livery and are being used alongside 3 others for Air One's "low fare" model operations.

References

  1. 1 2 "IATA - Codes - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. IATA. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 http://ch-aviation.com/portal/news/36016-alitalia-cancels-cai-first-and-seconds-aocs
  3. ↑ "Volare Group SpA." Businessweek. Retrieved on February 8, 2011. "The company is based in Ferno, Italy." and "Aeroporto Malpensa 2000 - S.P. 52 Terminal 1- Area Tecnica Sud Ferno, VA 21010"
  4. ↑ Air Europe information
  5. ↑ Italy puts low-cost airline Volare up for sale - Alitalia
  6. ↑ "Profile." Volareweb.com. 11 January 2007. Retrieved on 8 February 2011.
  7. ↑ "Contact us." Volareweb.com. Retrieved on 8 February 2011. "HEADQUARTER Corso Garibaldi, 186 - 36016 Thiene (VI) - ITALY." "COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT Via Pirelli, 20 - 20124 Milano - ITALY" and "CHARTER MANAGEMENT Via Pirelli, 20 - 20124 Milano - ITALY"
  8. ↑ The new Alitalia is using Air One for leisure operations at Milan Malpensa (french)
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ Volare Airlines Fleet

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