Air One Smart Carrier

Air One S.p.A., operating as Air One "Smart Carrier", is Alitalia's low cost carrier subsidiary with flights based in Milan Malpensa Airport and headquartered in Fiumicino, Italy.^[1] Before the merger with Alitalia, Air One was a competitor, the second largest airline in Italy, with a high-frequency scheduled network to 36 destinations in Italy, Europe and North America.

Its main bases were Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Linate Airport in Milan and Turin International Airport,^[2] all equipped with a dedicated Air One Lounge named Sala Welcome, which can still be used by Alitalia-CAI customers.

As of 31 December 2008, Air One is part of Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI), which has taken over Alitalia and Air One as one whole company. As of 28 March 2010, Air One as Air One Smart Carrier has been relaunched as a low-cost airline to operate low fare flights from Milan Malpensa on behalf of Alitalia. Air One is now therefore considered different from Alitalia, even though it is still owned by Alitalia. As of 1 July 2011 Air One Smart Carrier launched a base at Pisa Airport, and as of 22 May 2012 they will launch a base at Venice Marco Polo Airport.

"Air One" is a portmanteau of the English meaning Air One and the Italian word 'airone', meaning heron (the bird depicted in the logo), which is also the airline callsign.

History

Air One began life as Aliadriatica which was established in Pescara in 1983 to operate as a flying school and provide air-taxi services and later regional scheduled services. In 1988 Gruppo Toto, one of the leading building and civil engineering groups in Italy, became the majority shareholder. With the acquisition of its first Boeing 737-200 in June 1994, Aliadriatica started scheduled and charter operations. On 27 April 1995 Aliadriatica began scheduled flights between Milan (Linate) and Brindisi and Reggio Calabria and Lamezia Terme.

On 23 November 1995, the new name Air One was adopted and the airline began operating scheduled flights between Rome and Milan. In 1996, the first full year of operations, 713,000 passengers were carried and the airline expanded rapidly thereafter.

In the year 2000 Air One announced a partnership with Lufthansa and nearly all Air One flights became code-shared with Lufthansa.

As from June 2006, regional destinations were served under the name Air One CityLiner with the brand new fleet of Bombardier CRJ-900's.^[2]

In 2007, Air One carried approximately 5.5 million passengers (scheduled and charter), thus becoming the second largest Italian airline in terms of passenger traffic. 2007 revenues totaled EUR750 million ( million USD) with a net profit of EUR6.8 million ( million USD).

In August 2008, it was announced that Air One was to be merged with Alitalia.^[3] On 13 January 2009, Air One officially became part of Alitalia, though the two airlines were to be combined into one over time. A detailed integration plan was at that time yet to be announced.

On 28 March 2009, due to the merger with Alitalia, the cooperation between Lufthansa's Miles & More and Air One ended.^[4] On 28 June 2009, also due to the Alitalia merger, the partnerships with United Airlines' Mileage Plus program and Air Canada's Aeroplan program ended.^[5]

Later in 2009, the Alitalia and Air One booking procedures were unified so that the airlines effectively became the same.

Air One "Smart Carrier" - Low Cost subsidiary

As of 28 March 2010, Air One Smart Carrier as a separate brand from Alitalia is operating "low-fare" operations out of Milan Malpensa, still on behalf of CAI. 9 national and 5 international destinations are being operated, and more will arrive by next year. 5 of the newest A320's painted in the Air One livery and formatted to 180 seats are being used.^[6]

Air One Smart Carrier is intended for leisure passengers, with close to Low Cost Carrier prices while still offering some extra services such as luggage transportation and seat assignment, contrasting it with other airlines such as EasyJet (a competitor on many Air One S.C. routes). The new slogan is "Air One, my number One".

Air One codes will continue to be used for other flights within Italy (with the code AP2XXX, AP5XXX or AP6XXX, while the "low-fare" operations run under AP0XXX), but with normal Alitalia service, as happened before and happens with the codes of other CAI members (XM, VE).^[7]

In its first full quarter of operations, Air One Smart Carrier transported 320 000 passengers, with an on-time performance of 89%.^[8]

On 2 February 2011, Air One Smart Carrier released its expansion planned for the Summer 2011 season. It will launch several new seasonal flights, as well as two new yearly ones. It will also open an operational base at Pisa, and with a single aircraft will fly to 8 destinations from Pisa Airport.^[9] Air One Smart Carrier hopes to carry 1,6 million passengers this year, compared to 0,9 million last year, and the launch of a new website is also expected soon.

On 21 December 2011, Air One Smart Carrier flights from its new base at Venice Marco Polo Airport became available, with flights starting in May 2012. Thus Air One now has three bases - Milan, Pisa and Venice.

Destinations

Air One Smart Carrier currently serves 31 destinations (in 15 countries), four more than were originally planned for 2012.

Fleet

As of December 2011, the Air One S.C. fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Air One S.C. plans to have a fleet of 10 Airbus A320 aircraft by 2012. The Air One S.C. fleet has an average fleet age of 2.2 years.^[10]

Historical fleet

Air One, at the time of closure (11 January 2009), served the following aircraft:^[11]

• 27 Airbus A320-200's
• 2 Airbus A330-200's
• 4 Boeing 737-300's
• 14 Boeing 737-400's

The Air One fleet progression over the years:

• In January 2006, the airline signed a contract with Airbus for 30 Airbus A320s and 60 options, reportedly worth billion at list prices, to replace the carrier's leased fleet of Boeing 737-400s.^[12]
• In May 2006, it placed an order for 6 Canadair CRJ-900 along with options on a further 4 aircraft.
• The airline received the first of three Avro RJ70 aircraft wet leased from Transwede Airways. This aircraft is now being used by Alitalia on the Milan Linate-London City route.
• White Eagle Aviation, of Poland, acquired a single ATR 42 on lease and placed it into service on a long-term Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) contract with Air One flying domestic Italian passenger routes.^[13]
• In February 2007, Air One announced the conversion of 10 Airbus A320 options into firm orders, bringing its total order for the type to 40 firm, as well as 25 options and 25 purchase rights.^[14]
• In May 2007, the airline announced the conversion of options and purchase rights for 50 Airbus A320s into firm orders, bringing its commitment to the type to 90 aircraft. By 2012 Air One expected to operate flights to 35 destinations in Europe, rather than the 9 which were served at that time.^[15]
• In June 2008, the airline ordered 24 planes from Airbus for 4.8 billion dollars. Air One also had an option to buy another 20 planes for 3.8 billion dollars, Carlo Toto told a news conference. The order of the 24 planes includes 12 Airbus A330's and 12 A350's.^[16] These will now fall into the hands of Alitalia, for use on intercontinental routes out of Malpensa (A330), and increase in long-haul capcity, and then for replacing the Boeing 767's, which Alitalia currently uses in addition to newer Boeing 777's (which won't be replaced by the A330, although they may be replaced by the A350's on order).

References

External links

• Air One
• Air One Executive
• Air One Executive (Italian)
• Air One Fleet