Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) will ask overseas governments to help its civil aviation authority with safety oversight now its aviation industry is growing, with President Jose Ramos-Horta to call for Australian and Singaporean aid.
Air services to the country are expanding. On 1 August Australian company Austasia Airlines launched a twice-weekly Singapore-Dili service using an Airbus A319 chartered from Singapore's Silkair and later this year Timor-Leste will get its first airline, with Australian-Timorese businessman Jerry Desousa planning to launch Timor Air. The new carrier will wet-lease a Boeing 737-200 from Australia's Ozjet and operate from Timor-Leste capital Dili to Bali Denpasar in Indonesia and to Darwin in Australia. Horta says Timor Air's aim of launching by year-end is achievable.
He adds that the government in 2009 plans to begin work on a runway extension at Dili so it can handle larger aircraft.
Timor-Leste's government will pay for this using some of the money it gets from the country's oil and gas reserves, he adds. Dili's airport currently can only support aircraft as large as an A319.
Source: Flight International
