Air Malta has again entered into a wet lease agreement for the provision of an Airbus A320 aircraft to Sky Airline of Chile for a period of three months, one and a half months more than previous leases to the airline.

The aircraft will increase Sky Airline’s capacity during the peak southern hemisphere summer and is expected to operate from Santiago in Chile to airports in Peru, Brasil and Uruguay. The plane will again re-join Air Malta’s fleet in early March, in time for the airline’s busy summer season.

The aircraft with registration 9H-AEF will be operated by Air Malta cockpit crew and maintained by Air Malta’s engineers. A number of Maltese training In-flight Managers have also been sent over to Chile to give the necessary training to Sky Airline’s cabin crew. The pilots deployed with this aircraft have been given specialised training to be able to operate the aircraft in South America and across the Andes mountains. These types of leases also create continued opportunities for Air Malta employees to work abroad and garner further experience in their professional careers.

This is the fifth wet lease agreement between both airlines since 2007.

Through such agreements Air Malta generates additional revenue and leases out its excess capacity during winter. Past customers included Etihad Airways, Libyan Airlines, Adria Airways and Air New Zealand.

Air Malta’s Chief Commercial Officer Philip Saunders commented: “We are delighted to have completed this agreement with Sky Airlines of Chile. Both airlines enjoy an excellent relationship over several years and this decision reflects the confidence our partners have in the outstanding professionalism of our people and flight crews and in the quality of our aircraft.”

The ferry flight, operated last weekend, took the aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean to Chile and involved three legs. The aircraft departed Malta headed to Sal International Airport on Cape Verde Islands off the West coast of Africa where it landed there after a six and a half hour flight. The second leg took five and a half hours and was operated to Brazil’s Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport. The last leg was operated to Santiago International Airport in Chile and took another five and a half hours. The trip covered 6654 nautical miles.

The first commercial flight of the aircraft with Sky Airlines will take off from Santiago today, 30 November to Brazil.

Sky is a Chilean airline providing passenger, mail and cargo air transportation services since 2001. Originally it started operating in the Caribbean but in June 2002, the airline moved to Chile flying from its base in Santiago to main cities in the region. It currently owns a fleet of 13 Boeing 737-200 advanced aircraft and 3 Airbus A320.