Air Austral (UU, St. Denis de la Réunion) has been granted Exemption Authority as well as a Foreign Air Carrier Permit (FACP) by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) following the lodging of an application roughly a month ago.

In its final determination published last week, the DOT agreed to allow the European Union-registered carrier to conduct charter flights ferrying persons and property from any point or points behind any EU Member State via any point or points in any Member State and via intermediate points to any point or points in the United States and beyond.

It is also authorized to conduct foreign charter flights ferrying persons and property between any point or points in the United States and any point or points in any member of the European Common Aviation Area.

Air Austral plans to use its fleet of B777s and B787s to operate charter flights to the US although no specific launch dates were disclosed.