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 base is Jennai International Airport, with secondary hubs at Calora International Airport, King Marco International 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 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, which was later reversed by the next government. 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.

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 A330-300 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.

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. Operates holiday-oriented flights from and to Roumeli Airport.

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 33 destinations, many of which it took over from Regno Aerei in 2011. Future routes include:


 * Ankara
 * Munich
 * Brussels
 * Amsterdam
 * Simferopol
 * Konfederatisk
 * Plassans
 * Tripoli
 * Venice
 * Sharm El Sheikh

Current
As of August 2012, Cattala Airways operates these aircraft: