Airbus Updates No.4688

 

US-Bangla Airlines wet leases an A320-200

US-Bangla Airlines (BS, Dhaka) has begun wet leasing an A320-200 from BBN Airlines Thailand (TZ, Bangkok Don Mueang), the start-up ACMI specialist announced in a social media post. According to ADS-B data, HS-SXA (msn 5089) began operating under the "UBG" callsign on June 24, 2026.

The aircraft was repositioned from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Dhaka on June 23. Since entering service with US-Bangla Airlines, HS-SXA has operated flights from Dhaka to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Malé, Singapore Changi, and Sharjah.

Before its current engagement, the 14.3-year-old Airbus narrowbody operated for Thai VietJetAir from December 2025, when BBN Airlines Thailand launched commercial operations, until April 2026.

US-Bangla Airlines also continues to wet lease a B737-800 from BBN Airlines Indonesia (0B, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), a sister company of BBN Airlines Thailand under Avia Solutions Group. In addition, the carrier wet leases an ATR72-500 from NovoAir and a B737-200(F) from SkyAir, while wet leasing out one of its ATR72-600s to Air Astra, according to ch-aviation data.

The airline's in-house fleet comprises 17 aircraft: three A330-300s, ten ATR72-600s, and four B737-800s.

Airbus Updates No.4555

 

Sunrise Airways wet-leases two A320-200's

Sunrise Airways (S6, Port au Prince) will wet-lease two A320-200s, each configured with 179 seats, from GlobalX to accelerate its expanding operations in the Caribbean under its three separate air operator’s certificates in Haiti, the Dominican Republic (Sunrise Dominicana), and the eastern Caribbean (Sunrise Airways Dominica).

The addition of the two A320s will allow the company to initially “bolster our existing routes, particularly between Florida [Miami International] and Cap Haitien,” said Gary Stone, Sunrise’s chief executive officer.

“In the near future, though, they’ll be instrumental in our efforts to expand our network to new destinations like Fort Lauderdale International, New York Newark, and other key markets throughout the Americas. We’re planning additional fleet expansion over the coming months, and by the close of 2025 we anticipate operating 18 aircraft across our expanding network,” Stone added.

Sunrise Airways recently requested authorisation from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to start serving New York Newark with wet-leased capacity.

In the meantime, the two A320-200s will increase Sunrise’s fleet (across all AOCs) to 14 aircraft.

ch-aviation data shows Sunrise Airways’ fleet comprises one in-house BAe Jetstream 32, one in-house E120, three wet-leased E120s, and one wet-leased E145. The wet-leased capacity comes from Sahara African Aviation. Sunrise Dominicana operates two BAe Jetstream 32s and one E120, and Sunrise Dominica conducts its flights with one E120.

Airbus Updates No.4371

World Atlantic Airways plans Airbus A320-fleet

Aviation news site CH-Aviation has conducted an interview with the COO of World Atlantic Airways. In it, the airline has said it plans to transition to a fleet of Airbus A320s.

Over the last years, World Atlantic has already built experience with A320-operations by wet-leasing one from Fly2Sky. The airline hopes to welcome its first own two Airbuses before the end of the year.

World Atlantic Airways was originally launched as Caribbean Sun Airlines at Fort Lauderdale (FL) in 2002. It launched operations with a single DHC-8-100 in January 2003. In January 2007, it ceased operations. After a failed restart attempt, the company was acquired in 2010 and relaunched and rebranded as World Atlantic Airways.

Today, the airline operates charter and ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) flights with a fleet of five McDonnell-Douglas MD-83s. As the fleet is an average of 33 years old, and becoming more difficult to maintain, it's time to replace them.

Airbus Updates No.4276

 

AirAsia launches Cambodia branch

On 2 May 2024, AirAsia Cambodia launched its commercial operations after it secured its Air Operator's Certificate on 30 April 2024. AirAsia's newest branch is based at Phnom Penh and starts with domestic flights serving Siem Reap and Sihanoukvile.

AirAsia Cambodia is a joint-venture between the AirAsia Group owning 51%, and local company Sivilai Asia owning 49% of the new airline. It currently has a single Airbus A320 in the fleet, which is registered XU-819 (5109) and was previously operated by Thai AirAsia. The new airline also has intentions to fly internationally and is planning to expand to other AirAsia hubs like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore soon.

The AirAsia Group is made-up of AirAsia (based in Malaysia), Indonesia AirAsia, Philippine AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, and Teleport and is owned by investment company Capital A.

Ealier this year, Capital A announced its plans to sell-off AirAsia Group in order to raise funds for growing its other businesses. The company reached an agreement with AirAsia X, in which the AirAsia Group is a minority owner. Once this deal is finalized, AirAsiaX is set to rebrand itself into AirAsia and consolidate all operations under that brand and discontinuing the X-brand.

AirAsia X was founded in 2006 as FlyAsian Express, flying as a domestic carrier. A year later, it was acquired by a joint-venture co-owned by the original founder of AirAsia, and rebranded into AirAsiaX. It was redesigned to become AirAsia's long-haul carrier, operating the Airbus A330-300. In 2014 it also established subsidiaries in Indonesia and Thailand, of which the latter is still flying today.

Airbus Updates No. 4204

 

VietJetAir inducts wet-leased A320s for Lunar New Year

VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) has taken delivery of four A320-200s to help meet passenger demand over the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. The aircraft will be operated on an ACMI basis by Freebird Airlines (FH, Istanbul Airport).

ch-aviation research has identified the aircraft as:

• TC-FBV (msn 4658), which ferried into Ho Chi Minh City from Delhi International on December 25, 2023, and started a full roster of revenue flights on December 27;
• TC-FHK (msn 4102), which ferried into Ho Chi Minh City from Delhi on December 24, and started flying for VietJet on December 26;
• TC-FHL (msn 4154), which ferried into Ho Chi Minh City from Delhi on December 25, and began flights with VietJet on December 26; and
• TC-FHP (msn 5906), which ferried into Ho Chi Minh City from Delhi on January 8, 2024, and commenced revenue operations for VietJet the following day.

In a statement, the LCC said the extra aircraft will enhance capacity during Viet Nam's biggest holiday. The statement cites Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) statistics as saying that Vietnamese airlines will operate approximately 33,800 flights between January 24 and February 25, the peak travel period of the 2024 Lunar New Year. The figure represents a 14% increase compared to the same period last year and a 21% rise compared to the current regular flight schedule.