Airline Ali Europe is planning to set up in Malta, the fourth charter airline to do so over the past decades.

The latest issue of Italian aeronautical magazine JP4 Aeronautica revealed that the new airline would have bases in Palermo, Parma and Bergamo.

The airline has already secured a number of contracts, including one with Sicilian Virtus Viaggi. The airline, which styles itself as a ‘capacity provider’ will fly from various Italian airports to Spalato in Croatia, Santorini and Lesbo in Greece, Cyprus, Malta and the Balearic islands. The company has not yet secured an Aircraft Operating Certificate but is seeking two Boeing 737-400s, mostly due to their relatively low acquisition costs and economical operations.

Prior to Ali Europe, British Jet, Fly Hermes and Efly all tried their luck at operating charters, with varying degrees of success. British Jet was a virtual airline that flew mainly to the UK, between 2005 and 2008 before hotelier Robbie Borg was forced to throw in the towel, citing the ever escalating fuel costs at the time.

Efly attempted to set up a scheduled and charter carrier based in Malta but only one of the two planned BAe 146-300 was eventually delivered, aptly registered 9H-ELE after the daughter of the airline’s owner.

After a number of delays, the company started flying to Catania in September 2009, only to fold up in the first days of November citing a number of logistical problems with Malta International Airport at the time. Efly was the brainchild of Luigi Crispino, who had also started the first low-fare flights in Sicily through his Air Sicilia empire.

Another attempt came from Fly Hermes, backed by Luigi di Grandi and his son Paolo of di Grandi Innovazioni Industriali. The airline got off to a good start flying on behalf of a number of Italian tour operators, but got into trouble when it entered the scheduled market.

Chris Cauchi is a freelance aviation correspondent.

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