In 2015 the Italian Government decided to buy a four-engine Airbus A 340 to transport high political figures. From 2011 Etihad Airways had entered the capitals of various international carriers (including 33,3 % of Darwin Airlines of Switzerland), some of them bankrupt after few years. Between them. in January 2015, also Alitalia amidst much controversy. The Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) airline entered the field offering one of their out of service A 340 at a controversial price. The aircraft was delivered in February 2016, repainted with the livery of the "state-aircraft" operated by the Italian Air Force. However the aircraft never entered formally the IAF inventory because it did not carried the tri-colour roundel and an individual military serial number. Actually it was certified in the civil register as I-TALY. The choosing of these marks was not original, as the same registration had been already assigned to a Breda Ba.15 in 1930, to a CAB PL.3 in 1934 and, more recently, to the Biella-based Aermacchi MB.308G construction number 5902. The main activity of the only "Italian" A 340 was a series of training flights while there was a raging controversy for the heavy operational charges for the aircraft which, in the meantime, had been dubbed the "Rezibus". On December 7, 2016, the Renzi Government resigned and in 2018, after some more training flights, the A 340 was stored at Fiumicino Airport. It is a matter of fact that the certificate of airworthiness of I-TALY has not yet been cancelled.
In the picture: Airbus A 340-541 I-TALY of the Italian Air Force, former Etihad Airways' A6-EHA, landing at Turin/Caselle Airport on April 6, 2017. (Aeromedia)
(Aeromedia, December 2016)
