Having touted the plan in the pre-Covid era, AB Aviation (Moroni International) is set to wet-lease an A330-200 from Heston Airlines (HN, Vilnius) to jointly develop a new route from Moroni International, the capital of Comoros, to Paris CDG to boost tourism to the Indian Ocean archipelago off Africa’s east coast.
The Lithuanian ACMI/charter carrier will provide either A330 LY-MAC (msn 1047) or LY-PLW (msn 1014), Chief Executive Officer Jonas Rinkauskas confirmed to ch-aviation. The aircraft carry 266 passengers including 18 in business and 248 in economy class. The wet-lease contract is set for one year, with extensions possible. Flights should start in December and run twice a week.
AB Aviation was not immediately available for comment.
The Comorian airline is working with the local regulator to regain its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) which was suspended in March 2022 after 19 people were killed in a crash of a Cessna (twin turboprop) 208 Grand Caravan operated by Fly Zanzibar (Zanzibar) on February 26, 2022.
The privately-owned carrier was only recertified in September 2020, after the local regulator (L'Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie de l'Union des Comores - ANACM) forced all Comorian operators to undergo recertification in 2017.
AB Aviation's operations specifications are limited to a single aircraft, an EMB-120ER, D6-ABA (msn 120239), leased from Sahara African Aviation (Mbombela), which remains stored in Comoros, according to ch-aviation fleets data.
