Wind Jet (Catania) ceased operations at midnight last night (August 11) after its merger talks with Alitalia (2nd) (Rome) collapsed. Previously Alitalia had received permission to take over the struggling carrier. The airline, based in Sicily, commenced operations on June 18, 2003.

Up to 500,000 passengers could be impacted by the grounding and the five Airbus aircraft are reported by the media to be grounded in Malta for overdue payments.

Read the full story from The Malta Independent: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Guillaume Besnard. Airbus A320-211 EI-DOE (msn 215) completes its final approach into Toulouse.

Wind Jet: