Meridiana fly (Olbia) has rejected reports in the Italian press claiming that it will abandon its Milan Malpensa base this summer, effectively putting 567 employees out of work. Italy's ANSA newswire had stated that the move would be part of the second phase of Meridiana's restructuring programme, set to be finalized later this week by airline management, bureaucrats from the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, and union representatives.
"We’re not leaving Milan Malpensa; we currently are present in that airport and we aim to increase our presence," Meridiana's spokeswoman Loredana De Filippo told ch-aviation. "CEO Richard W. Creagh will meet in the next days the Government and rapidly appoint a meeting with the unions in order to discuss the redundancy program together with the other important action that we need to improve to restructure Meridiana fly."
While the plan will involve redundancies, the overall number is expected to be less than the 1'600 announced by ex-CEO Roberto Scaramella last year. Rome has also raised the question of mobility within the confines of the Alisarda group to help ease the impact of the layoffs as well as social benefits for those eventually cut from the workforce.
Meridiana embarked on a restructuring programme in 2013 among whose objectives are the retirement of its Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) fleet, the termination of loss-making routes, and the downsizing of the workforce to a number commensurate to its scale of operations.
In a bid to accelerate the carrier's return to profitability, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) last year took Meridiana SpA private following its successful acquisition of a 96.87% shareholding in the company.
