Air Italy expects profits 'very soon' despite pilots idled by Boeing crisis

An Air Italy executive has joined a chorus of global airlines hurt by grounded Boeing 737 MAX jets but expects the airline to be profitable “very soon” and carrying five times as many passengers by 2022. “We have MAX pilots on the ground, sitting there doing nothing,” COO Rossen Dimitrov said. Sardinia-based Air Italy, which launched last year, was using three MAX aircraft to service routes to Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo and Dakar before regulators around the world grounded the fast-selling Boeing jets following two fatal crashes. With a fleet of just 13 aircraft, Air Italy has had to lease two Embraer jets and their crew from Bulgaria Air to cover routes heading into the peak summer travel season. Because Air Italy’s pilots and crew are not trained on the Embraer, their work hours have fallen, Dimitrov said. Air Italy, which also flies non-stop from Milan to five North American destinations including new seasonal routes to Los Angeles, San Francisco and as of this week Toronto, has 1,146 employees. Loss-making Air Italy, owned by Italian holding company Alisarda and Qatar Airways, expects to be profitable “very soon,” Dimitrov said. He declined to provide details but said shareholders “are happy” with a five-year business plan it recently shared.<br/>