Mistral Air was established in 1981 by actor and former swimmer Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli) and started operations in 1984 with medium-range cargo flights for the Dutch company TNT. In the early 1990s, Bud Spencer donated the company, entirely free of charge, to TNT. In 2002, TNT sold the majority of its shares to Poste Italiane, which became the sole shareholder in 2005. It has operated connection services to Lampedusa and Pantelleria and, on behalf of the Holy See of the Vatican, has flew pilgrims to holy sites such as Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago de Compostela, Medjugorje, Israel/Palestine (Holy Land), Poland and Mexico. Over the years, Mistral Air equipped itself with 30 aircraft: 12 ATR-72/ATR-42, 12 Boeing 737-300/400, and 6 Bae Avro RJ85 in a different livery. In 2018, Poste Italiane announced that Mistral Air would cease all scheduled and charter passenger flights to focus solely on cargo operations. Since October 1, 2019, Mistral Air was rebranded in Poste Air Cargo.
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