DesignerChappie, The RJs where made idle after they terminated a contract with Alitalia last October:
Quote: <<<<<<Azzurra Avro RJs idled by end of Alitalia contract
The seven Avro RJs of Italian airline Azzurra Air have been largely idled by the termination of the contract to provide services for Alitalia. In a cost-cutting move, Alitalia cancelled services to Hamburg, Copenhagen, Porto, and Stockholm from Milano's Malpensa Airport, as of October 26, 2003 -- services that Azzurra had provided. The move leaves Azzurra's Avro RJs with only one scheduled service: to Rotterdam, served once daily in a code-share arrangement with VLM. Azzurra operates four Avro RJ70s and three RJ85s. [2003-10-28]>>>>>>
JMC-Man, are you sure the 737-700 were reposessed as they were due to be returned to lessor anyway in lieu of new A320s, two of which have been delivered?
LGW Vulture, Air Malta have been bailing out Azzurra for possibly too long now. Besides it is still a mystery to me if they still own their 49%, as it has been rumoured to have been sold, just last week!