Elivie
| Elivie | |
|---|---|
| IATA code : | |
| ICAO code : | EV |
| Call sign : | ELIVIE |
| Founding: | 1956 |
| Operation stopped: | 1971 |
| Seat: |
Naples , Italy
|
| Home airport : | Naples airport |
| Management: | Giovanni Buonamico Marcello Mainetti |
| Fleet size: | 10 |
| Aims: | national |
| Elivie ceased operations in 1971. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
Elivie - Società Italiana Esercizio Elicotteri was an Italian regional airline that was part of the Alitalia group . Elivie was based in Naples and operated helicopters on domestic routes from 1959 to 1971 .
Elivie is an artificial word that was formed from the Italian words elicottero (helicopter) and vie (ways) and can best be translated using the English heliways .
history
In view of the increasing use of helicopters in Italy, Alitalia planned to set up this subsidiary in the mid-1950s. It was believed that helicopters would become an important means of transport in certain areas (tourism, islands, metropolitan areas).
On November 23, 1956, Alitalia and its main shareholder IRI founded the company ELI Linee Italiane , which was then renamed Elivie at the beginning of the following year. The company, based at Naples Airport , began flight operations on July 20, 1959 with four Agusta - Bell AB 47Js that had been purchased from the military . From the airport and port of Naples Elivie offered flights to the islands of Capri and Ischia in the Gulf of Naples and to Sorrento and Positano on the Amalfi Coast . Especially in the first few years, the helicopters were rented between November and April due to insufficient demand.
From 1961 Elivie offered connections between Milan-Malpensa Airport and the cities of Turin and Milan . However, the operation proved to be unprofitable and was soon abandoned.
In 1961 Elivie received two AB 102 helicopters, a further development of the AB 47J. The model did not meet expectations and was taken out of service in 1965. In 1963 Elivie took over a nine-seat AB 204B , which proved to be extremely useful, which is why four more helicopters of this type were put into service in 1965, also as replacements for the AB 102. In 1968 two AB 206A were added to the fleet, as well as two large Sikorsky S-61 N, which could each carry 26 passengers.
In 1968 Alitalia sold its Elivie shares to its subsidiary ATI . The following year, the state holding company IRI also sold its shares, giving ATI full control of the company. In 1969, the Elivie route network was expanded to include connections between Venice and Cortina d'Ampezzo and flights between Naples, Catania and the Aeolian Islands . However, flight operations remained uneconomical overall.
In the months that followed, Elivie had several accidents. In September 1969, an AB 47J was so badly damaged when landing in Naples that it had to be written off. A similar accident occurred in December 1969 with an AB 204 near Pesaro . In these two cases there were no fatalities. On 14 January 1970, a AB 204 crashed on the way to an Agip - production platform in the Adriatic before Pescara , all nine people on board were killed. Later in the economic situation of the company deteriorated because of the development of the oil price so much so that operations can be set for June 30, 1971 had.
See also
Web links
- Details on the Elivie fleet
- Elivie flight plan 1963
- Elivie on timetableimages.com
- Picture of the two S-61 of the Elivie
