Volare Airlines was founded by the goldsmith Gino Zoccai and the former Frecce Tricolori pilot Vincenzo Soddu in 1997. In 2000, Air Europe, leader in the charter flight market, was purchased, thus was born the Volare Group holding company which controlled the two airlines. In the same year, Swissair became part of the Volare Group, with a 49% share. The crisis after the attacks of 11 September 200 led to the bankruptcy of Swissair, and the Helvetic shareholding was bought back by Zoccai for around 50 million euros; but the debts were rising. In 2003 Volare Airlines became the first Italian low-cost airline, renamed Volareweb.com and in the same period a new liquidity crisis occurred. The seriousness of the financial situation led to the stop of the operations of the two companies of the Volare Group on 19 November 2004. It was operating, throughout its existence, with a fleet of 21 Airbus A320-200, 2 Airbus A321-200, 6 Airbus A330-200, 3 Boeing 757-200 and 3 Boeing 767-300.
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