Timor-Leste’s airline, Aero Dili, made its inaugural international flight Monday with its sole jet aircraft, an Airbus 320.
The service connected the Timorese capital of Dili with the Indonesian island of Bali, according to a report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Regular flights begin next week, the airline’s executive director Lourenço Oliveira said, with daily connections to Jakarta and Singapore from 28 March.
He added that negotiations are underway to start flights between Timor-Leste and Australia and that the airline also hoped to offer flights to the Philippines and China.
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Oliveira has invested US$10 million in the airline, according to Lusa. Timor-Leste’s President José Ramos-Horta told the agency that the government should subsidise the company to ensure its competitiveness.
The maintenance of the A320 – which is being leased from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise and has a capacity for 165 passengers – will be carried out in Jakarta, where 40 Timorese technicians are being trained.
Besides the A320, Aero Dili operates two Cessna aircraft.
