Cattala Airways

Cattala Airways is the flag carrier airline of Cattala and a subsidiary of the state-owned Cattala Aviation Group. It operates scheduled services in Europe, North Africa and the Near East, with a focus on the Mediterranean Basin. It's main bases are Jennai International Airport and Calora International Airport, with secondary hubs at King Marco Bonnecelli Airport and Roumeli International Airport. It has its head office in Jennai Harbour, alongside that of its parent company and its sister airline Regno Aerei.

Cattala Airways operates a fleet of 26 Airbus A320 and A319 planes, with Boeing 737s on a long term lease to LuftKardinal. In the long-term it aims to replace its existing fleet with the Airbus A320neo family of planes.

Cattala Royal Airlines (1935-1978)
Cattala Royal Airlines was set up by Royal Commission in 1935, to operate as the state airline of the Kingdom. Despite struggling for the first five years of its existence, the airline was heavily subsidised by the state and the royal family and succeeded in operating flights to Italy, Malta, Greece and Tunisia. After the Italian invasion, the airline ceased flying until the end of 1944, when it was resurrected by the temporary government and the Allied leaders on the island.

With assistance from British European Airways in the 1950s and 1960s, CRA expanded rapidly and began flying routes to London, Paris, Nairobi, Johannesburg and launched services to New York in 1974. The expansion in aviation in Cattala meant that the airline partially funded the construction of Celestine International, later renamed King Marco Intl, as well as Calora International.

The huge expansion of the airline caused severe financial problems in the 1970s and successive management teams failed to rescue the company from spiralling debts and crucially, spiralling subsidy demands. Commercial rival Regno Aerei captured the first class and business customers from CRA throughout the decade and forced it out of transatlantic routes altogether. Cattala Royal Airlines was liquidised by the government in 1978.

Foundation
Successive smaller airlines attempted to capitalise on the long-haul focus of Regno Aerei and capture the European market that was once the centrepiece of Cattala Royal Airlines market. Most collapsed under the strain of debt and at least seven attempts to create a new airline were aborted in the 1980s alone.

Cattala Airways was established in 1996 after the government announced plans to purchase a 30% stake in Regno Aerei and the nationalisation of all four international airports. The airline took ageing aircraft from Regno and created short-haul routes to North Africa, Italy and the Balkans. By 2000, it operated all Mediterranean flights that were once controlled by Regno Aerei. Expansion stalled when Il Popolo was ousted from power and the Democratic Party sought to reduce state control over the aviation sector.

First Decade
Cattala Airways, just like many other airlines, was severely affected after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It experienced a sharp decline in passengers and made its first loss in 2001, before making deeper losses in 2002. The Democratic government panicked and was advised to privatise the airline and cut its losses before the airline needed a bailout. Instead, the government sold its stake in Regno Aerei and used the profit from that to protect Cattala Airways.

The airline made small profits in the years after this, before selling slots in Jennai International Airport in 2005 to Regno Aerei, which was resurgent after being fully privatised. Cattala Airways shrank to just 19 destinations by 2010 from its 2005 peak of 30.

Partial Privatisation


In 2010, the Cattolica Conservatori government announced plans to sell off 49% of Cattala Airways to TirnGlobal Logistics and Corraile Airlines Group. The sale was completed and Cattala Airways Holdings, owned by TGL and CAG, was formed in the spring to input the two investors opinions on the airline's operations. Beginning in July, a major search for a capable and suitable joint 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. John Hovens, Managing Director of Corraile Airlines, also joined the airline as part of a management shake-up.

Expansion was instant, with 4 large Airbus A310 aircraft leased to the airline on a long-term, wet lease basis. 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 using Airbus' and its first independent route.

A fleet of 7 Boeing 737-800s were purchased from the bankrupt AirRoumeli in 2010 and a lease of 6 Airbus A319s was revealed for expansion into continental Europe, announcing new flights to Manchester, Madrid, Barcelona as well as Frankfurt.

On August 2011, Cattala Airways CEO Vincenzo Cargiolotti announced a firm order for 5 Airbus A330-200 aircraft fitted with General Electric CF6-80E1 engines, allowing the aircraft to serve destinations further from Cattala such as Mumbai, Beijing and Bangkok. The planes were transferred over to Regno Aerei after the creation of Cattala Aviation Group. They are slated to be delivered in 2013.

Formation of Cattala Aviation Group
In October 2011, the Government of Cattala announced it was nationalising the struggling Regno Aerei group and that it would be merged with Cattala Airways' holding organisation to form Cattala Aviation Group. The conglomerate later bought out the 49% stakes of Corraile Airlines Group and Tirnglobal Logistics, ending the one-year partnership between the three corporations. Both companies made a substantial profit from their investment.

Second Decade (2013-2023)
In 2012, the airline announced it would be creating a 10-year cycle system for its fleet and routes. After 16 years of short-termism, the flotation of Cattala Aviation Group on the Jennai Stock Exchange meant that Vincenzo Cargiolotti decided to radically overhaul the management practices of an airline that had come close to collapse twice and had been "bounced between private and public ownership continuously", in his own words.

Internally, the "Second Decade" follows the ten year period of management after the sale of the government's Regno Aerei stake. Known as DecTwo, the project began with the flotation of the company on the Stock Exchange and was made public in June 2013 at a press conference in which senior management outlined plans for both Cattala Airways and Regno Aerei for the next 10 years.

Included within the masterplan is a target to double the size of Cattala Airways by 2020, to 60 destinations across Europe, North Africa and the Near East. A new fleet of 20 Airbus A320neo planes will be introduced in 2016 and an option for 15 more to be delivered by 2020. The plan also confirmed that all scheduled flights from King Marco Bonnecelli airport in Celeste would end by 2015, and the airline will reduce its presence in Roumeli International as well due to a projected decline in demand at that airport.

Cattala Airways Regional launched in June 2013, as part of DecTwo, and meant all routes from King Marco Bonnecelli moved to the new Embraer E190 jets from the Airbus A320s that were previously used on these flights. All domestic services were shifted as well, reducing the number of daily flights by the core Cattala Airways group significantly, but also freed up slots for new, more profitable and more popular routes.

The airline will also become an exclusive customer of Airbus after selling two Boeing 737-800W planes to PrivatAir and signing a long-term lease with LuftKardinal for its three remaining Boeing 737s, which will be not be returned to service with Cattala Airways when the lease ends.

Ownership
Cattala Airways is currently owned by Cattala Aviation Group, controlled by the Government of Cattala. Until recently it was owned by a partnership of 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. Tirnglobal Logistics also sold its share to Cattala Aviation Group for an undisclosed figure.

Subsidiaries

 * CattalaMediterranean - Successor of AirRoumeli. Operated holiday-oriented flights from and to Roumeli Airport from across Europe, until its closure in 2012. Its fleet of Boeing 737s were absorbed by Cattala Airways temporarily, before four were sold on and three wet leased to LuftKardinal.


 * Cattala Airways Regional - Established in June 2013, it split the domestic, Maltese and some Italian routes of Cattala Airways into a new carrier group. It is branded with an identical Cattala Airways livery.

Awards
Since its rejuvenation in 2010, 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 is accredited with the IOSA safety accreditation by the IATA.

Destinations
Cattala Airways currently serves 47 international destinations in Europe, the Near East and North Africa.

Current
As of June 2013, Cattala Airways operates these aircraft: