italian airways: Giuseppe Gentile tries again

An Air Italy 737 MAX landing in Hamburg Airport. Photo by Pascal Weste | AeroNewsX

Giuseppe Gentile founded Air Italy in 2005, an airline based in Milan Malpensa which was then bought by Meridiana. Last February while the carrier ended up in liquidation, Gentile applied to register the brand "italian airways" (sic), which is protected until 2030. The new airline is currently only a registered trademark but the founder of Air Italy seems determined.

The carrier would focus first of all on connections between Sardinia and smaller airports. The main airports from which the airline could take off could be Palermo and Catania (Sicily), while it could possibly take off from all the Sardinian airports.

These would seem to not be the only objectives of the new airline, which could focus mainly on long-haul routes, particularly towards North and South America.

"Investing in air transport today may seem like a risk, but I think it's a good opportunity," Gentile explained. The main base would still remain Bergamo, but with smaller planes, probably 100-seater Embraers to serve Sardinia and smaller airports, in order to save money and adapt to this pandemic period. Finally, Gentile said that he is willing to take a part of Air Italy's staff, leaving a glimmer of hope for all those workers who lost their jobs in February after the bankruptcy of the airline.