Meridiana fly (Olbia) will launch flights from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK and Miami International, its first year round North American services. While Meridiana previously offered non-stop summer only services from both Naples and Palermo to New York's John F. Kennedy airport, these services are not currently being offered for sale yet for the upcoming summer 2018 season.
The Italian carrier will also add B737-8s and two ex-Qatar Airways A330-200s to its fleet. The announcement is the first detailing the carrier's new strategy after Qatar Airways finalised its investment in Meridiana, taking over 49% of shares. The A330-200s will be operated by subsidiary Air Italy (2005) (Milan Malpensa) according to ch-aviation analysis of schedule data. Flights from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK will be operated daily from June 1, 2018, while the route to Miami will launch on June 8, 2018, and will be operated 4x weekly. A twice weekly A330 service from Malpensa to Havana International will commence on September 4 replacing B767-300(ER) equipment on the route.
Meridiana fly also announced five new domestic services from Malpensa: to Rome Fiumicino (21x weekly from May 1), Naples Capodichino (14x weekly from May 1), Palermo International (14x weekly from May 1), Catania (14x weekly from July 2) and Lamezia Terme (14x weekly from September 1).
The announced plans mark a significant expansion of the carrier's presence at Milan Malpensa. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Meridiana fly currently operates 28 weekly departures from the Northern Italian hub. The airline's schedule for summer 2018 out of Malpensa will grow to seventeen routes from the current eleven.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the airline currently operates mainly from Milan Linate (52 weekly departures) and Olbia (44 weekly departures). But as part of its new strategy, Meridiana will cut all routes out of Linate with the exception of a three times daily service to Olbia from January 19, 2018. Qatar Airways has previously announced its intention to develop Meridiana fly into a "new flag carrier" for Italy, replacing the ailing Alitalia.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Meridiana fly currently operates a fleet of thirteen active aircraft, including eight B737-800s, one B737-700 and three B767-300(ER)s. The airline plans to retire all its wide-body Boeing aircraft by early 2019 and replace them with a total of five ex-Qatar Airways A330-200s.
