Irish Aviation Research Institute

Windjet aircraft at Dublin picture courtesy of Paul Doyle                                                On 25th January 2012 Alitalia announced it signed an Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to merge with Blue Panorama and Wind Jet citing each carrier has complementary markets, networks and products in line with growing airline airline industry consolidation. Alitalia received regulatory approval to take-over Windjet on 24th July. However at Midnight Saturday 10th August the Catania based carrier WindJet halted operations after merger talks with Alitalia failed, subsequently four WindJet A320 Family aircraft arrived in Dublin Airport overnight  to be joined by a single A320 in the early hours on 15th August. According to media reports up to 300,000 passengers could be effected by the sudden halting of operations. The Italian Economic Minister has urged both airlines to resume talks in Rome to clich a last minute deal. On Twitter it was reported Windjet customers where holdin