Gruppo Uvet has confirmed it closed a deal to acquire 100% of the shareholding of Blue Panorama Airlines (Rome Fiumicino) on Friday, December 15. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.
Under court-appointed administration since 2014, the leisure carrier had sought buyers on two previous occasions albeit with no success.
As such, the President of Gruppo Uvet, Luca Patané, said in a statement that the Italian tour operator aimed to transform Blue Panorama into a vertically-integrated carrier, working closely with other departments within the firm.
"The reach of our company is growing, we are on the cusp of a new adventure that promises enormous potential growth," he said. "[The airline industry] is a very complex business but we believe that we can relaunch Blue Panorama and my ambition is for it to further grow the Group. Although we are a niche carrier, we still want to be major players. To that end, we are already thinking about gradually expanding our fleet."
Founded in 1998, Blue Panorama operates a fleet of three B767-300(ER)s and eight B737s - two B737-300s, two B737-400s, and four B737-800s. At present, it connects various points across Italy with leisure/VFR destinations in Italy as well as Albania, Greece, Antigua & Barbuda, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Kenya, and Tanzania. Blue Panorama expects to close 2017 with a turnover of over EUR240 million euros (USD283 million).
