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C.A.I. First

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C.A.I. First[1]
IATA ICAO Call sign
XM[1] SMX ALIEXPRESS
Founded1 October 1997 (1997-10-01)
Ceased operations6 February 2015 (2015-02-06)
(integrated into Alitalia)
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer programMilleMiglia
Alliance
Parent companyAlitalia
HeadquartersFiumicino, Rome, Italy

C.A.I. First S.p.A. was[2] an Italian airline operating flights for its parent company, Alitalia, to preserve slots at Milan Linate Airport. For this reason Alitalia when merged with Air One didn't close C.A.I. First, which at that time still operated as Alitalia Express. It used to have bases at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome and Malpensa Airport in Milan.[3] C.A.I. First was dissolved and merged into Alitalia mainline by February 2015.[2]

The name C.A.I. First was only a legal name and wasn't used in public, all of its flights were branded as Alitalia.

History

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Early years

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Alitalia Express Embraer 170

The airline was established as a subsidiary of Alitalia and started operations on 1 October 1997. It was founded from the defunct Avianova. It was announced that Minerva Airlines would be acquired by Alitalia in March 2003 and that Alitalia Express's fleet would be transferred, but the plan did not go through.[citation needed]

Air One and Alitalia merger

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In December 2008, Compagnia Aerea Italiana (C.A.I.) took over Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane and Air One, merging the two companies together to create the "new Alitalia". With the take over, CAI also received Alitalia Express and Air One CityLiner. The Alitalia Express brand has been phased out and the regional arm of Alitalia is now Alitalia CityLiner by rebranding Air One CityLiner.[citation needed]

The last fleet of Alitalia Express, 10 Embraer 170, was completely phased out by March 2013. Only one Airbus A320-200 (EI-DSC) from mainline Alitalia was moved in the fleet to preserve the slots. The same solution had been used with C.A.I. Second which used to be Volareweb.com.

On 6 February 2015, the airline was dissolved and its operations integrated into Alitalia mainline.[2][4]

Fleet

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

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

Fleet history

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Over the years, Alitalia Express has operated the following aircraft types:[5]

Alitalia Express Historical Fleet
Aircraft Image Introduced Retired Total
ATR 42-300 1996 2007 9
ATR 72-212 1996 2008 5
ATR 72-500 1999 2008 6
Embraer ERJ 145LR 2000 2008 14
Embraer 170 2004 2012 6
Dornier 328 2000 2004 10
operated by
Minerva Airlines[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "IATA - Codes - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. IATA. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Alitalia cancels CAI First and Second's AOCs".
  3. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 27 March 2007. p. 73.
  4. ^ "Enac - Compagnie aeree". Archived from the original on 22 March 2009.
  5. ^ "Alitalia Express historic fleet at airfleets.net. Retrieved 14 February 2012". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  6. ^ "Minerva Airlines". Planespotters. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
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Media related to Alitalia Express at Wikimedia Commons

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