C.A.I. Second S.p.A. was[2] an Italian airline operating flights for its parent company, Alitalia. When Alitalia merged with Air One, it didn't close C.A.I. (at that time known as Volare S.p.A. and then Volareweb.com) so that it could preserve slots at Milan Linate Airport.
It was once a low-cost subsidiary of the old Alitalia-LAI. Its head office was located in Area Tecnica Sud of Terminal 1 of Milan Malpensa Airport, in Ferno, Varese, Italy,[3] and it ceased activity with this name on 12 January 2009. The airline was then used to operate Alitalia flights from Linate Airport as C.A.I. Second. This name was only a legal one and not used in public; all of its flights were branded as Alitalia. The airline ceased operations and was merged into Alitalia mainline by February 2015.[2]
History
Early years
At one time the airline (Volare Group) operated flights from Italy to Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania and London Luton Airport. The airline suspended its operations in November 2004 and filed for bankruptcy. The tickets on suspended flights were never refunded to passengers. Since then, the airline exited bankruptcy and, for a period, only operated Italian domestic routes.
By May 2008, Volare flew to 20 destinations in Europe. Volare's charter and leisure subsidiary Air Europe flew to other long-haul destinations. With the fusion of Alitalia-CAI and Air One later on that year, however, Air Europe was discontinued.[4]
New ownership
After bankruptcy, the Volare Group was put up for sale by the Italian Government in December 2004. Alitalia-LAI's offer for 38 million euros was the winning bid,[5] however Air One tried to block the sale by going to court. On 14 April 2006 Volare S.p.A. was founded.[6] On 15 May 2006 the former Volare Group employees were transferred to Volare SpA (the Alitalia subsidiary).
Volare Group had its head office in Thiene, Italy and its commercial management and charter management in Milan.[7] Alitalia's offer for 38 million euros was the winning bid. On 15 May 2006 the former Volare Group employees were transferred to Volare S.p.A. In Italy, the sale of Volare is considered a soap-opera due to the multiple obstacles placed on the sale of the airline to Alitalia-LAI.
As of 1 January 2008, Volareweb was an integral part of Alitalia-LAI and was serving as the company's Italian low-cost subsidiary. Furthermore, due to Alitalia-LAI's hub switch from Milan-Malpensa to Rome-Fiumicino, several flights from Malpensa were discontinued (such as Kraków and Timișoara) and transferred to Volare. With the Alitalia-CAI-Air One fusion, these flights ceased to exist. Nowadays from Milan Malpensa Alitalia-CAI has adopted Air One as a subsidiary for low-fare flights.[8] Only one Airbus A320 coming from parent Alitalia-CAI remained in the fleet (EI-IKB) to preserve the slots.
On 11 February 2015, the airline was dissolved and its operations integrated into Alitalia mainline.[2][9]
Destinations
Last operations
Volare Airlines code VE was used on some Alitalia flights from Milan Linate Airport (in this way, Alitalia can operate more flights than it would have been able to using a single airline, as there is a limit to the operations at Linate airport for airlines). C.A.I. First was used for the same purpose.
Former destinations
Volareweb.com, the low-cost subsidiary of Alitalia-LAI, served these destinations at the time of closure:
The last two Volareweb.com A320s were repainted in March 2010 into the Air One livery and are being used alongside three others for Air One's "low fare" model operations.
^"Volare Group SpA." Businessweek. Retrieved on February 8, 2011. "The company is based in Ferno, Italy." and "Aeroporto Malpensa 2000 - S.P. 52 Terminal 1- Area Tecnica Sud Ferno, VA 21010"
^"Profile." Volareweb.com. 11 January 2007. Retrieved on 8 February 2011.
^"Contact us." Volareweb.com. Retrieved on 8 February 2011. "HEADQUARTER Corso Garibaldi, 186 - 36016 Thiene (VI) - ITALY." "COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT Via Pirelli, 20 - 20124 Milano - ITALY" and "CHARTER MANAGEMENT Via Pirelli, 20 - 20124 Milano - ITALY"
