Italian airline Air One - a possible buyer of struggling state airline Alitalia - sees passenger volumes growing by more than 20% by year's end.
Air One transported 6,360,000 passengers from January to October compared to 6.3 million passengers during the whole of 2006, the company said in a statement on Friday.
According to Air One Network and Marketing Director, Giorgio De Roni, by the end of 2007 the number of passengers on regular flights will grow to 7.2 million and to 8.0 million including passengers on charter flights, making for an overall 21% year-on-year rise.
Passengers on regular flights totalled 6.0 million of the total transported by the Italian company from January to October 2007 and passengers on charter flights amounted to 360,000, Air One said.
In the period from June to September 2007 the Italian airline transported 2.75 million passengers, up by 24.6 pct on the year, the statement read.
According to the website of AirOne, www.flyairone.it, in 2006 Air One's market share exceeded 33 pct in Italy, employing some 2,800 people (including personnel of subsidiary companies).
Air One operates weekly flights to 23 Italian destinations and 8 major international cities.
It is Italy's biggest private carrier and is one of the candidates - along with Air France and Lufthansa - to buy the debt-saddled Alitalia.
Italy's biggest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, said Friday it was looking at taking a minority stake in Air One for the Alitalia bid.
