Italy's Mistral Air pax operations in jeopardy - union

Italian trade union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) has warned Mistral Air (7M, Rome Fiumicino) could face dramatic cutbacks should reports about Alitalia (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) losing several of its Italian PSO routes to Darwin Airline (F7, Lugano) prove true.

Mistral Air, the airline division of Italy's postal firm Poste Italiane, operates the affected routes - Rome Fiumicino-Ancona, Milan Linate-Trieste, Naples Int'l-Turin, and flights to Lampedusa and Pantelleria - using ATR72-500s under wet-lease contract to Alitalia.

In a statement, the USB decried the Italian government's impending decision to award the contracts to the Swiss firm adding that Mistral Air would likely be forced to transition into a freight-only carrier as a result

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MISTRAL AIR - B737-300, EI-BUE

Flying Photos - LPPT

MISTRAL AIR - B737-300, EI-DVA

José Ramon Valero - PMI

MISTRAL AIR - B737-300, EI-DVC

PedroMB - LPPT