Ernest Airlines starts winding up its fleet

Following the decision by Italy’s civilian aviation authority to suspend the licence of Ernest Airlines after the airline failed to hand over documentation required by the European Union’s Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008. The airline now appears to be breaking-up, after three of its four aircraft have been placed into storage.

Three Airbus A320 aircraft that are leased to the airline have been ferried to various locations within the last seven days. EI-GCC, belonging to French leasing company Macquarie AirFinance, was flown to Naples Capodichino Airport, Italy on January 4. EI-LIN, which is owned by Blackbird Capital, is stored in Amman Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan since January 3, while EI-LIX has been sat on the ground in Tarbes, France since January 6, 2020.

This leaves the airline with just one aircraft to operate with, an Airbus A319, which has been extensively used over the last few days. The A319 completed seven scheduled flight on January 7, although none of these arrived at the designated time.