Air Malta leases aircraft to Sky Airline

Air Malta announced that it has renewed 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, Brazil and Uruguay. This is the fifth wet lease agreement between both airlines since 2007.

The plane will re-join Air Malta's fleet in early March, in time for the airline's busy summer season.

The aircraft 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 the aircraft have been given specialised training to be able to operate the aircraft in South America and across the Andes mountains.

Air Malta said these type of leases create continued opportunities for Air Malta  employees to work abroad and garner further experience in their professional careers.

In its statement, Air Malt6a pointed out that through such agreements additional revenue is generated and offers an opportunity to lease 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 said: "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 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 three Airbus A320.