US’s AirBahn adds first aircraft, an A320; eyes 2022 launch

AirBahn (ARB, Santa Ana, CA) has accepted its first aircraft, an A320-200 transferred from its Pakistani sister carrier, AirBlue (PA, Karachi Int’l).

ch-aviation research shows AP-EDA (msn 3974) was added to the US register as N786PB on October 5, 2021. The 12.3-year-old Airbus aircraft was owned and operated by AirBlue as since new and until late October 2019. Subsequently, it was ferried for maintenance to Istanbul Atatürk and remains in Turkey for the time being.

In a recent US Department of Transportation (DOT) filing, the start-up revealed that it was currently on Phase 3 of five in its air carrier certification procedure. It expects to complete the gauntlet in December 2021 but acknowledged that it could extend into 2022 should the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) require revisions of its manuals or programs. Similarly, the process could be delayed by COVID-related problems in pilot training, and a scarcity of available simulators due to the high demand from existing carriers conducting recurrence training for crews recalled from furloughs.

In response to the pleading, the DOT extended the start-up’s certificate validity through the end of January 2022 despite AirBahn’s request for the end of June 2022. The airline was initially issued the certificate on October 7, 2020. US regulations require start-ups to launch operations within one year of receiving the certificate or lose it.

AirBahn is backed by the Chaudhary family, which also owns AirBlue. All members of the family are US citizens. The start-up applied to the DOT for a certificate of public convenience and necessity covering scheduled interstate flights ferrying passengers, cargo, and mail in October 2018. It was subsequently granted the authority two years later. In its 2018 application, the airline said it planned to launch with one A320-200 and add another dry-leased unit of the same type within the first 12 months of operations. It said that it would base its operations out of either Santa Ana, CA, initially focussing on operating scheduled flights within California, to Las Vegas McCarran, and Calgary.

The start-up’s launch capital was provided by a shareholders’ loan of USD2.5 million and a further USD11 million from Airways Lease Inc., another company owned by the Chaudharys.