Cattala Airways

Cattala Airways is the national carrier of the United Kingdom of Cattala. Based in Jennai, Cattala Airways is a relatively new airline, having been created in September 2010 and beginning full scheduled operations in October 2010. Using just 4 Airbus A310-300 aircraft, as well as 6 Airbus A319, the airline serves 12 destinations, as well as an additional 4 through CattalaMediterranean, its Rhodean subsidiary.

History
Cattala Airways was established after the United Kingdom of Cattala, along with operational partners Tirnglobal Logistics and Corraile Airlines Group agreed to set up a national carrier. The agreement was inked on June 2010 and the planning for entry into operation began. Beginning in July, a major search for a capable and suitable Chief Executive Officer resulted in the appointment of Vincenzo Cargiolotti, an experienced financial manager and businessman, as CEO for the newly formed Cattala Airways Corporation, headquartered in Jennai.

To meet the deadline for the beginning of scheduled operations in October, John Hovens, Managing Director o Corraile Airlines then, had offered his expertise at the airline, taking up the job in September, just a month before the first flight. Negotiations with the ILFC resulted in 4 large Airbus A310 aircraft leased to the airline on a long-term, wet lease basis. During this period of time, also, the frantic hiring of pilots, ground crew as well as administrative officers.

On October 7th 2010, Cattala Airways flight 112, departed Jennai International Airport for Centreburg, right on time at 1300 hours. On board were 194 passengers and 6 crew members, marking the airline's first ever flight.

Along with the political union of Rhodes and Cattala, Rhodean carrier Rhodair, was merged into Cattala Airways in January 2011. Rhodair, already a more established carrier at the time of merger, had a fleet of 7 Boeing 737-800s. All these aircraft were transferred to the newly created successor of Rhodair, CattalaMediterranean, targeted at the holiday-travel market. Subsequently, Cattala Airways leased a fleet of 6 Airbus A319s for expansion into continental Europe, announcing new flights to Athens, Madrid, Barcelona as well As Frankfurt.

On August 2011, Cattala Airways CEO Vincenzo Cargiolotti announced a firm order for 5 Airbus A330-300 aircraft fitted with General Electric CF6-80E1 engines, allowing the aircraft to serve destinations further from Cattala such as Mumbai, Beijing and Bangkok. Route plans for these aircraft, slated to be delivered in 2013, have yet to be finalised.

Ownership
Cattala Airways is currently owned by the Government of Cattala, through Cattala Airways Holding (51%), Tirnglobal Logistics (24%) and the Corraile Airlines Group (25%). On September 1 2011, the Corraile Airlines Group confirmed that it would be selling its stake in the airline to the Government of Cattala for an estimated amount of USD 650 million.

Subsidiaries

 * CattalaMediterranean - Successor of Rhodair. Operates holiday-oriented flights from Rhodes Diagoras Airport.
 * PackageAir - Holiday package agency for Cattala Airways and CattalaMediterranean. Established 2011.

Awards
Despite being a newcomer into the aviation market, Cattala Airways has been honoured for the surprising quality of cabin crew and service onboard its flights. In May, Cattala Airways was recognised as the "Best New Airline" in Europe, as well as the "Best Business Airline in the Mediterranean" by the "Business Travel World" magazine. Also, the airline received an honourable mention for "Quality Inflight Service" by Transatlanticbusiness.com, a transatlantic business travel website. The airline was accredited with the IOSA safety accreditation by the IATA.

Destinations
Cattala Airways currently serves 16 destinations.


 * Centreburg
 * New York
 * Barcelona
 * Munich
 * Frankfurt
 * London
 * Paris
 * Copenhagen
 * Bruxelas
 * Moscow
 * Dubai
 * Tel Aviv
 * Ankara
 * Istanbul
 * Simferopol
 * Sharm El Sheikh

Current
As of August 2011, Cattala Airways operates these aircraft:

Incidents and accidents
There have been no incidents or accidents since the start of operations.