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Thursday, July 4, 2013

► TUNISIA: Tunisair eyes more Italian; sub-Saharan African routes.

TunisairDuring a recent meeting with Tunisian businessmen based in Italy, Tunisian Ambassador to Italy, Mr Naceur Mestiri, announced that Tunisair (TU) would soon begin flights from Tunis to the newly commissioned airport of Comiso, an ex-military base turned civilian airfield located in the Sicilian province of Ragusa, 5 km from Comiso and 15 km from Ragusa.

Tunisair Ouagadougou inaugural flight
Tunisair A320 in Tunis (Tunisair)
With the tentative addition of Comiso, Tunisair's Italian network would consist of six destinations altogether namely Rome Fiumicino, Milan, Palermo, Venice and Bologna.

Meanwhile, in an interview with North Africa's "L'économiste Maghrébin" paper, the Tunisian national carrier's Director General, Mr Rebah Jrad, has said that Airbus has offered the carrier the option of "sharkletting" five of its ten A320ceos on order at no extra charge. The aircraft are due to arrive from 2017 onwards and will help in the airline's ambitious sub-Saharan Africa expansion plan. 

In addition to the previously outlined Ndjamena, Niamey and Douala flights due at some stage during the course of this year, Accra and Lome, Mr Jrad mentioned a possible Khartoum via Benghazi flight. He did, however, lament the fact that Tunis - Dubai was suffering from heavy competition from Emirates and Qatar Airways but did not mention any possible termination plans.