Hi Fly Malta to deploy its first A340-600 on RAF South Atlantic ops

Lufthansa Technik's new technical and engineering services for temporary operational changes have garnered significant market interest and it is now working on the first A380-800 passenger-cargo conversion for an undisclosed customer. So far, the company's cabin modification team has received enquiries from more than 40 airlines and over 15 projects for different aircraft types are already in the implementation phase.

In its statement, the company said that securing the contract to complete an operational change of the first A380 was "a special highlight." In terms of trying to determine the customer, 15 airlines currently operate the double decker, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. These are: Air France; ANA - All Nippon Airways; Asiana Airlines; British Airways; China Southern Airlines; Emirates; Etihad Airways; Hi Fly Malta; Korean Air; Lufthansa; Malaysia Airlines; Qantas; Qatar Airways; Singapore Airlines; and Thai Airways International.

"Over the past days, we have received strong interest from different airlines regarding our passenger to freighter service capabilities," explained...

LAM - Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (TM, Maputo) will commence its 3x weekly service from Maputo to Lisbon, Portugal starting on June 2, rather than the end of March as originally planned.

The overnight flight from Mozambique will utilise an A330-200 wet-leased from ACMI/charter specialist Hi Fly Malta (HFM, Malta Int'l). The operator is presently preparing two 269-seat ex-Turkish Airlines A330-200s, TC-LNA (msn 874) and TC-LNB (msn 939), for introduction into its fleet. State-owned LAM is forced to used ACMI capacity for the route given it is currently banned from European Union airspace.

According to the ch-aviation schedules module, TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) is the incumbent carrier on the route, flying the 4,523-nautical mile sector (8,376-kilometre) 3x weekly with its A330-900 fleet.

"We want to reach a point where LAM and TAP Air Portugal [with whom LAM has been codesharing on the route] share the market they have and offer a daily flight between the two points," LAM General Manager Joao Jorge told...