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Moov Airways (Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg, CH) is planning to take delivery of its first turboprops for its regional operations out of Lugano by early 2022, ahead of a forecasted launch of long-haul low-cost services with A321-200NX(XLR)s in 2023, Chief Executive Alvaro Nogueira de Oliveira told Routes Online in an interview.

"We aim to get [the funding] done in 2021, receive the first airplanes by late 2021, early 2022, and be ready to fly in winter 2022," Oliveira said.

The start-up is one of the bidders in the ongoing tender for the operation of Lugano airport. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India's SKN Haryana City Gas to jointly develop the airport in southern, Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. Lugano has not seen scheduled passenger traffic since the bankruptcy of Adria Airways (JP, Ljubljana) in September 2019, and currently caters exclusively to general aviation.

For Moov Airways, the opportunity to launch regional operations out of Lugano would be the first step in its development strategy. Oliveira said the start-up would add an...