Aircalin’s new A350 to fly regional routes before long-haul ops

By Andrew Curran.

Aircalin will spend several months getting to know its first fresh out of the factory A350-900 by using it on short-haul routes around the Southwest Pacific Minutes from a New Caledonia Government meeting last week reveal that the airline will start operating the aircraft to Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane in January as part of a familiarisation process before redeploying it onto its flagship Paris route.

The state-owned carrier expects to take delivery of the first of two A350-900s in December, although the exact date has yet to be confirmed. The first delivery is keenly anticipated following ongoing reliability issues with Aircalin’s pair of A330-900s. Both the airline and the government hope the new aircraft will help resolve the airline’s woes.

“The A350 is not expected to be immediately assigned to the Nouméa – Bangkok – Paris route,” the minutes from the October 19 meeting read. “The aircraft will first be used on regional routes to Sydney, Brisbane, and Auckland… the A350 will be gradually deployed during the next IATA season (starting March 28, 2027), on the long-haul routes for which it was acquired – first and foremost the service to Paris via Bangkok.”

The meeting's minutes say the A350-900 should enter service in January. However, the minutes do not say when in January and current schedule data does not show any aircraft swaps to the A350-900.

The announcement coincides with the first A350-900, F-WZGW (msn 830), preparing to commence flight testing in Toulouse (TLS). In recent days, the aircraft, painted in Aircalin colours, has been towed to the facility’s flight-test area. Once handed over to Aircalin, it will be re-registered as F-OLUI.

Aircalin to wet-lease another A330 this summer

Meanwhile, the New Caledonia Government has also confirmed that Aircalin will again wet-lease an A330 from a European operator. The aircraft will help ensure Aircalin can service its schedules, especially over the busy upcoming Southern Summer season.

The meeting minutes did not specify when the aircraft would arrive or who would supply it, but Aircalin often uses Spanish charter and wet-lease airline Wamos Air.

Based in New Caledonia, a French territory, Aircalin abides by  EU aviation safety, maintenance and operational standards. When it needs to, it taps other carriers operating under EASA regulations that meet its own compliance framework.

While the focus is on the imminent arrival of the A350, the government says Aircalin will continue to maintain its short-haul international network over the upcoming Southern Summer 2026/27 season. This includes operating at least three return flights per week on the Nouméa (NOU)  – Sydney (SYD) and Nouméa – Brisbane (BNE) routes, twice-weekly return flights on the Nouméa – Auckland (AKL) and Nouméa – Nadi (NAN) routes, and one weekly return flight on the Nouméa – Port Vila (VLI) route, temporarily increasing to twice weekly during the school holidays.

Aircalin also operates a weekly service between Nouméa and Wallis Island (WLS).

Photo: Aircalin
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com