Aero Dili (8G, Dili) has began revenue flights, using its sole A320-200 on a daily Dili - Denpasar - Dili rotation that commenced on May 12. That followed the aircraft flying Timor Leste's prime minister and other senior officials to Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, on May 9 to attend a regional inter-government summit.
As reported in ch-aviation, Aero Dili received its first Airbus aircraft, the country's only jet aircraft, in March. 4W-AAL (msn 3672) flew in on a two-year lease from DAE Capital, and since then, has been through a series of proving flights. The aircraft, which seats 165 passengers, carried 62 passengers on the inaugural revenue flight to Denpasar and 35 passengers on the return sector to Dili.
Aero Dili, which says it has plans to expand operations to Australia and Singapore, competes with Citilink (QG, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), Sriwijaya Air (SJ, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), and Batik Air (ID, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) on the Dili - Denpasar route. The carrier also becomes the only scheduled international operator to be based at Dili's Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport. In addition to the three aforementioned Indonesian airlines, Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) connects Dili with Darwin, while Drukair (KB, Paro) operates flights to Singapore Changi on behalf of virtual carrier Air Timor (Dili).
