Neos

Neos is one of those airlines that, as a German spotter, you’re more likely to see on vacation than at your home airport. That is exactly why a close look is worthwhile: the Italian leisure airline flies a lean, all-Boeing fleet, was Italy’s first 787 operator and checks in on the radio with an unusual callsign. This page shows you how to identify Neos with certainty and where your chances are best.

Neos at a glance

Neos is an Italian leisure airline based in Somma Lombardo, right at Milan Malpensa Airport. The airline was founded on June 22, 2001, and flight operations started on March 8, 2002. It began as a joint venture: on one side the parent company of the Turin-based tour operator Alpitour, on the other the German TUI group. As early as January 2004 the Alpitour side took over the TUI shares, and Neos has been the in-house airline of the Alpitour group ever since.

The business model resembles what you know from German leisure airlines such as Condor or TUIfly: Neos flies vacation destinations for tour operators but also sells individual seats. The network stretches from the Mediterranean via Egypt and East Africa to the Caribbean and North America. According to Wikipedia, Neos employed a good 1,000 people in 2024.

Neos does not belong to an alliance. There are still some partnerships, including interline agreements with easyJet and with ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code NO: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board, on your ticket and in timetables.
• ICAO code NOS: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign MOONFLOWER: this is how the crew checks in on the radio.
• Ticket prefix 703: the three-digit number at the start of the ticket number.

The IATA code NO tends to put beginners on the wrong track because it sounds like Norway. It has nothing to do with the country – nor with Norwegian, which uses completely different codes. IATA codes are pure airline identifiers; the country abbreviation is found only in the registration. How the two code systems relate is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes.

The callsign is even more striking. “MOONFLOWER” has nothing to do with the name Neos – if you only listen for the airline name on the radio, you’ll miss it entirely. Why callsign and flight number often diverge is covered in the piece Callsign and flight number.

The fleet: Boeing only

Neos has relied exclusively on Boeing for years. According to Wikipedia and a fleet overview from May 2026, the fleet looks like this in mid-2026:

Type	Number	Seats	Use	Spotter tip
Boeing 737-800	4	186	Short and medium haul	Oldest type in the fleet, being replaced gradually
Boeing 737 MAX 8	8	186	Short and medium haul, partly longer charters	In the fleet since 2021
Boeing 787-9	6	359 or 344, depending on cabin version	Long haul	Flagship of the fleet, two cabin versions

The two narrowbody types have the same seat count. That makes them hard to tell apart from the schedule – on site, only a look at the aircraft helps. The Boeing 737-800 is the older generation, the 737 MAX 8 the newer one with more economical engines. The first two MAX 8s arrived on March 30, 2021, and two more in June of the same year. More aircraft have followed since, while the 737-800s are gradually leaving the fleet.

The flagship is the Boeing 787-9. Neos had at first ordered the smaller 787-8 in 2014 and later changed the order to the 787-9, supplemented by used aircraft. On December 25, 2017 the first Neos 787-9 entered scheduled service – making Neos, according to Wikipedia, the first Italian operator of the Dreamliner.

Former types and borrowed aircraft

Before the 787, Neos flew long haul with the Boeing 767-300ER. Three examples were in service from 2005 to 2020, after which they were converted to freighters. If you have old photos of Neos in your collection, you may find a 767 there – but you no longer see one as a Neos aircraft today.

It is also typical of leisure airlines that other airlines’ aircraft help out at peak times. Neos has bridged such bottlenecks several times via wet lease, that is, with an aircraft complete with crew from another airline:

• Norse Atlantic Airways helped out in the winter peaks of 2024.
• Mavi Gök Airlines from Turkey flew a Boeing 777-300ER for Neos on a long-term wet lease in winter 2025/26, from Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino to destinations such as Zanzibar, Kenya and the Dominican Republic.

For your logbook that is a trap: the flight runs under a Neos flight number, but the aircraft belongs to another airline. So always note who actually operates the flight. How such arrangements work is explained in the piece Wet lease explained.

737-800 or 737 MAX 8? How to tell them apart

Because both types have 186 seats at Neos and fly in the same network, you have to tell them apart on the aircraft itself. A few details help.

The most reliable are the engines with the serrated trailing edges. You can still see the serrations well on approach if you shoot from the side with a telephoto lens. More basics on the distinguishing features are in the guide Identifying aircraft types.

How to recognize Neos

The most important feature is the “neos” titles in lowercase on the fuselage. Add to that the manageable fleet: if you see a leisure airline’s 787-9 at an Italian airport, Neos is a hot candidate. A 737 with Neos titles belongs either to the 737-800 generation or to the MAX 8 – there are no other types in its own fleet.

One detail surprises many spotters: several Neos 737s are not registered in Italy but in Ireland. Registrations such as EI-GRJ or EI-RZA therefore begin with EI- instead of the Italian I-. Ireland is a popular home for leased aircraft, so you often see EI- registrations on airlines from all over Europe. What is behind the prefixes is explained in the pieces on aircraft registrations and country codes.

Special liveries are worth a close look at Neos. One example is the 737-800 EI-GRJ named “Ciao Gin”, which according to Wikipedia flew the Palermo–New York route from May to November 2024. A 737 crossing the Atlantic is a head-turner in itself. How to find such subjects deliberately is shown in the guide to special liveries.

Routes and operations

According to Wikipedia, Neos serves around 85 destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. The core is classic vacation destinations: the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, Egypt, East Africa and the Caribbean. Add to that flights to North America and a few unusual destinations that are interesting for spotters:

• Kazakhstan: With the 737 MAX 8, Neos connects Milan Malpensa with Almaty via Atyrau.
• Greenland: For tour operators and cruise companies, a 737 MAX 8 flew charters from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Kangerlussuaq and Nuuk.
• Dubai: In winter 2026/27, Neos serves the Rome Fiumicino–Dubai Al Maktoum route once a week with a 737.
• Caribbean triangle: On a circular route, Neos connects Milan Malpensa with Cozumel and Cancún.

A leisure airline’s network changes from season to season. For example, Neos dropped the Bari–New York route for summer 2026, according to the airport operator. So always check the current schedule before you plan a trip.

Spotting Neos: where your chances are

Honestly: in German-speaking countries Neos is not an everyday guest. The airline departs almost exclusively from Italy, and its destinations are in the south and on long haul. If you want to see Neos, it’s best to plan a spotting detour on an Italian vacation.

At Malpensa your chances are best. The 787-9 long-haul flights are concentrated there, and the 737s are regularly seen too. At Rome Fiumicino you meet Neos alongside ITA Airways and Aeroitalia – a good day to get the Italian airlines into your logbook all at once.

Whether you’re standing on the right side of the airport depends, as always, on the runway direction in use. How to judge it is covered in the guide to runway direction at airports. And for planning light in the south, the piece on sun position helps – midday sun in Italy is harsh, while morning and late afternoon usually deliver nicer pictures.

Neos compared with other leisure airlines

Neos fits well in a line with other European leisure airlines. Edelweiss from Switzerland flies Airbus, Condor from Germany mostly Airbus as well, while TUIfly, like Neos, flies the Boeing 737. The shared history is interesting: TUI was on board when Neos was founded, before the paths separated in 2004.

Long haul makes a difference. While many smaller leisure airlines operate only narrowbody aircraft, Neos flies a modern widebody jet in the 787-9 – and has done so since 2017.

Common mix-ups

• Taking NO for Norway – the IATA code NO belongs to Neos and has nothing to do with the country.
• Automatically assigning EI- registrations to Ryanair – several Neos 737s carry Irish registrations too.
• Missing the callsign MOONFLOWER – the name Neos doesn’t come up on the radio.
• Telling the 737-800 and MAX 8 apart by seat count – both have 186 seats at Neos, the engines are what decide.
• Logging wet-lease aircraft as Neos aircraft – a 777-300ER under a Neos flight number belongs to another airline.
• Taking Neos for part of ITA Airways – Neos belongs to the Alpitour group, not to the former Alitalia family.

Conclusion

Neos is the airline you meet on an Italian vacation and almost never at home. Behind the plain titles is a leisure airline with an all-Boeing fleet, Italy’s first Dreamliner and a callsign hardly anyone remembers. If you note type, registration and ICAO code and look closely at wet-lease flights, you’ll have a clean Neos sighting in your logbook.