The owner of the Timorese company Aero Dili said last Friday that the first plane flying the Timorese flag will start flying in 2023, on various routes, in an investment of US$10 million (9.5 million euros).
The plane, an A320, “is undergoing general inspection in Malaysia. We should start in January with the launch. We are planning the routes and waiting for the final authorizations from the government. We want to do Dili-Darwin (northern Australia), Dili-Singapore, Dili-Indonesia, Dili-Philippines and Dili-China, depending on the market”, said Lourenço de Oliveira in an interview with Lusa.
“The plane is on a leasing model, with an initial payment for a two-year guarantee. It will be a normal commercial operation, but we want to offer more competitive prices than the current ones”, he explained.
Owner of two casinos in Dili and with investments in aquaculture and agriculture, among others, Lourenço de Oliveira has, in the last year, operated part of the air connections between Dili and Bali, Indonesia, using a charter model with planes from the companies Air Asia and Sriwijaya Air.
An experience, he guarantees, that allows him to “know the market well” and that will allow him to apply “competitive prices” with the operation of Aero Dili.
Process steps
The dream of having a Timorese-flagged plane began about six years ago, when Lourenço de Oliveira decided to take a pilot course himself, later buying three small planes for domestic trips in Timor-Leste.
“Four years later, I thought we had to start flying internationally. We did an extensive study and I considered that this operation was feasible”, he recalled.
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