Italy’s Blue Panorama suspends flight operations

Blue Panorama Airlines (BV, Rome Fiumicino) suspended flight operations on October 26, a joint note from the Uiltrasporti, Filt Cgil, and Fit Cisl unions has told Italian news media. The grounding, precipitated by reduced cash flows brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, has also affected the Italian leisure specialist’s Luke Air (LKA, Rome Fiumicino) subsidiary.

The Italian civil aviation authority (Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile – ENAC) confirmed in a statement on October 27 that it had started the process of suspending both the airline’s air operator’s certificate (AOC) and operator’s licence (OL) on October 22 pending clarification on its financial standing.

Blue Panorama has been in and out of bankruptcy and restructuring over the past 10 years, the last being in 2012. In 2017, following successful judicial restructuring, it was acquired by Italian tour operator Gruppo Uvet. As with other travel-reliant industries, Blue Panorama had urged the Italian government to expedite the disbursement of urgently needed COVID-related state assistance, especially in light of subdued summer demand. Should this funding now be deposited, it would help restart the airline’s operations.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Blue Panorama’s fleet entails two A330-200s (operated under the Luke Air brand), one B737-300, one B737-400, and eight B737-800s.