Kyrgyzstan’s Air Manas takes delivery of first A220

Air Manas (MBB, Bishkek) took delivery of its first A220-300 on April 26, 2021, with plans to add another later this year, and a further three by the end of 2023. EX-22002 (msn 55072) was ferried from Maastricht via Minsk National to Bishkek over the course of April 23-26, 2021, AirNav RadarBox ADS-B data indicates. The aircraft was delivered by Airbus to lessor GTLK – State Transport Leasing in February 2020 and has remained in storage since then, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. It is Air Manas’s only aircraft and also the first brand new aircraft ever delivered to Kyrgyzstan. Air Manas said in a statement that the second A220-300 will also be dry-leased from GTLK. The first aircraft is configured in a single-class layout with 145 passenger seats. The ch-aviation fleets ownership module indicates that GTLK owns a total of six A220-300s, including Air Manas’s first aircraft. Msn 55056, 55057, 55065, and 55066 are currently stored at Maastricht airport, while msn 55073 is parked at Enschede airport. The Kyrgyz carrier plans to complete its recertification and relaunch during the summer 2021 season. It indicated that it would operate the A220s on domestic and international routes to the CIS and East Asia. Going forward, the carrier hopes to secure Third Country Operator (TCO) certificate and launch flights to the European Union. To that end, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Transport last week confirmed it was in talks with Lufthansa Consulting alongside the Kyrgyz Civil Aviation Agency, Manas Airport OJSC, and Air Manas over a cooperation agreement, presumably to assist the Central Asian republic in removing itself from the European Union’s blacklist. Air Manas was incorporated in 2006. In 2012, Pegasus Airlines acquired a 49% stake in the Kyrgyz carrier which was briefly rebranded as Pegasus Asia. The Turkish carrier subsequently divested in 2019, selling its shares to a Belfast-based company, AviaTrade Corp. Thereafter, Air Manas became dormant. In 2020, it secured funding from the Russia-backed Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to add new aircraft. Although its Air Operator’s Certificate expired in January 2020, by March 2020 the carrier had initiated the recertification process, which is ongoing. Prior to its dormancy, Air Manas operated one B737-800 transferred from Pegasus Airlines and returned to the Turkish carrier in 2018, as well as an ex-Pegasus Airlines B737-400, which was retired and transferred to Iran’s Sepehran Airlines (IS, Shiraz) in 2020, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows.