Dili, Feb. 9, 2025 (Lusa) - The Timorese airline Aero Dili will inaugurate next Friday the air route connecting the capital of Timor-Leste to the Chinese city of Xiamen, said Lourenço de Oliveira, the executive director of the private company.
Speaking to Lusa at the company's headquarters in Dili, Lourenço de Oliveira explained that he decided to open the route because it "represents a large market", given the thousands of Chinese living in the Timorese territory.
But, he emphasised, also because when he started flying to Bali, Indonesia, two years ago, and then to Singapore, the Chinese community asked him to open a direct route.
"The process wasn't easy," said the Timorese businessman, but 14 February marks the start of the flight to Xiamen, a city in Fujian province in southern China.
The connection between the two cities takes around 5h20 and the round trip will cost around $1,060 (around €1,020).
Asked by Lusa if the company's expansion includes air links to Australia, Lourenço de Oliveira said that he is already "submitting the documents".
"If they approve it, I have plans to fly the Díli/Darwin and Díli/Melbourne routes," he said.
Lourenço de Oliveira also said that the company's future is one of success, especially if Timor-Leste is acknowledged as a full member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a process that the authorities hope to finalise later this year.
Created in 2023, Aero Dili made its inaugural flight to Denpasar, Bali, in March of the same year and currently flies every day to the capital of that Indonesian island.
Last year, it started a weekly flight to Singapore and has several weekly connections to Oecussi, an East Timorese enclave on the Indonesian side of the island.
The only financial support Aero Dili receives from the Timorese government is a compensation of $50,000 a month to fly to Oecussi. "Even so, I also have to give a subsidy of $7,500" to keep ticket prices affordable, said Lourenço de Oliveira.
Asked by Lusa if he had ever asked the government for an increase in compensation, Lourenço de Oliveira explained that he had never asked but emphasised that the route to Oecussi is going "very well".
"But it's good and has a good airport, it could be in Dili. If I could change the airport," he said, emphasising that the works at Nicolau Lobato International Airport are “very important”, especially the extension of the runway, which is small.
Aero Dili's executive director explained that its operations are constrained because it can't use larger aeroplanes.
Aero Dili has two aeroplanes, the second of which will arrive in March.
"I need another plane to fulfil the criteria," said the businessman, noting that two weekly flights are planned to Singapore. He is waiting to sign an air agreement between Timor-Leste and Thailand to fly to that country.
The Timorese businessman said that he decided to set up Aero Dili because, after more than 20 years, the country had no national flag carrier despite previously operating air links between the Timorese capital and Bali with charter flights.
"I started training human resources, and now we have 22, two stewardesses, three pilots, three more because of Airbus, who are now also piloting, and I trained government staff in Civil Aviation because if we don't have an inspector, we can't collaborate," said Lourenço de Oliveira.
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