ASKY Airlines (KP, Lomé) will end Dash 8-400 operations by the end of 2019, Group Commercial and Ground Operations Director Nowel Ngala told Business Africa Magazine.
"The Bombardier Q400 will be returned before the end of this year 2019, for an acquisition of two additional Boeing B737 aircraft with bigger capacity, to make our fleet size increase to 10 aircraft before the end of the first quarter of 2020," Ngala said.
The phase-out of the turboprops was accelerated by at least a year. ASKY's original contract with its 40% parent Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) for the sub-leasing of Dash 8 turboprops lasted through the end of 2020, ch-aviation understands.
The Togolese carrier currently operates one Dash 8-400 dry-leased from Ethiopian Airlines, ET-AQD (msn 4427). Another unit of the type sourced from Ethiopian Airlines, ET-AQC (msn 4421), has already been returned to the Ethiopian carrier and repainted in its full livery.
According to the ch-aviation schedules module, ASKY currently operates the turboprop on a very limited network of routes from Lomé to Abidjan (4x weekly) and Yaoundé Nsimalen via Abuja (3x weekly).
ASKY Airlines also operates five B737-700s and two B737-800s. It plans to add two more B737-800 units by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
