Qatar Airways announced the completion of its acquisition of a 49 per cent of AQA Holding, the new parent company of Meridiana fly (Meridiana), while the previous sole shareholder Alisarda has kept 51 per cent. Meridiana is the second largest Italian carrier, with an extensive network, which connects the main Italian airports with Sardinia and provides connectivity with hubs in Europe as well as in the U.S. and Africa.
Meridiana’s fleet consists of Boeing 737s, 767s and MD-82s.
Qatar Airways currently flies from Doha to Rome, Venice, Pisa and Milan a total of 42 times per week and this partnership will further strengthen the airline’s ties to Italy, while promoting job creation within the country, and from where it connects passengers to more than 150 destinations around the world.
Under the terms of the Contribution and Shareholders’ Agreement signed in July 2016, Alisarda maintains the right to appoint the majority of the Board members.
Following the closing, the Shareholders’ meetings of AQA Holding and Meridiana appointed today the new Board of directors. Alisarda’s Chairman Marco Rigotti has been appointed Chairman of AQA Holding while Francesco Violante is the new Chairman of Meridiana. Mr. Violante has previously been the CEO of SITA until end of June 2016, leaving in at the end October after a very successful 13 years.
In due course, the new Plan for Meridiana will be announced and the new CEO will be appointed. In the meanwhile Mr. Rigotti will retain the executive powers as deputy chairman.
The other members of the Boards are, for AQA Holding, Sultan Ali Allana, Corinne Fournot, Daniel Ho and Giles Agutter, and, for Meridiana, Corinne Fournot, Daniel Ho and Giles Agutter.
