Air Timor (Dili) has signed a partnership agreement with Citilink (QG, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) paving the way for the budget carrier to launch daily return flights between the Timorese capital, Dili, and the Indonesian resort town of Denpasar.

Citilink's parent, Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), commenced operating the route on June 1 using a CRJ1000 and will continue to do so until September 1 when the service will switch to Citilink. The LCC will then deploy an ex-Garuda B737-500 to service the route.

“Due to the limitation of the runway length and payload restrictions, the CRJ-1000 can carry a full load into Dili from Denpasar but will be restricted with only 69 passengers for the Dili to Denpasar sector,” Abessy Bento, the President Director of Air Timor, said.

Under the agreement, up to four aircraft can be deployed on flights to East Timor with other destinations said to include the Oecussi enclave in West Timor, as well as Baucau, a former air base used by the TNI-AU Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Udara (Jakarta Halim) during Indonesia's 24-year long occupation of the country.

A virtual carrier, Air Timor operates one Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravan and charters an A319-100 from Singapore's SilkAir (SLK, Singapore Changi) to service its own flights from Dili to Denpasar as well as to Singapore Changi.