FLEET -Surinam Airways / A340-300 / PZ-TCW

 Ton Jochems

FLEET - Surinam Airways to phase-out its A340

On 14 March 2024, Surinam Airways issued a press-release in which it announces the upcoming phase-out of its sole Airbus A340-300. According to the statement, the aircraft is set to leave the fleet on 24 March 2024, and will be returned to its lessor V2 Aviation.

Surinam Airways started flying commercially with PZ-TCW (921) on 11 June 2023. Originally, the lease-agreement was for eight months but that has been extended with a few months.

The airline has the intention to replace the A340 with another own longhaul-aircraft. Until they have secured this aircraft, Surinam Airways will wet-lease an Airbus A330-200 from Maleth Aero to operate the flights between Paramaribo and Amsterdam.

Surinam Airways' A340 enters commercial service (A340-313 / PZ-TCW)

Surinam Airways' new own Airbus A340-300 entered commercial service. The four-holer, PZ-TCW (921) left Amsterdam as PY993 and safely arrived at Paramaribo almost nine hours later.

The flight marks an important moment for the airline as it had been wet-leasing capacity from airlines like Air Belgium, and Airhub since it ended its own widebody-operations in February 2021.

Surinam Airways. 

Photo: Johan Knijn Aviation Photography

Amsterdam - Schiphol (AMS / EHAM) Netherlands

 

NEW LIVERY - Surinam Airways takes an in-house A340-300

Surinam Airways (PY, Paramaribo International) took delivery of its first in-house widebody aircraft, and second overall, namely A340-300 F-WTAJ (msn 921).

The 14.9-year-old aircraft was ferried directly from maintenance at Amman Queen Alia to Paramaribo International on March 13, 2023. The aircraft is leased from V2 Aviation and will be re-registered as PZ-TCW. Surinam Airways expects to induct it into service on its only transatlantic service to Amsterdam Schiphol in May, once it is certified by the local regulator. The aircraft is configured for up to 32 passengers in business class and 225 in economy.

The A340 has been leased for just eight months. Until its induction, Surinam Airways will continue wet-leasing A330-200 9H-PAX (msn 1161) from Airhub Airlines for its Amsterdam route.

The ch-aviation fleets history module shows that the carrier operated the type between 2009 and 2019. Having retired PZ-TCR (msn 242) in late 2019 with a debt to the lessor, it replaced it with a B777-200(ER). However, the Boeing aircraft was plagued by maintenance issues and the lack of ETOPS certification, which forced the carrier to resort to wet-leasing widebody capacity. The B777 entered into regular service in late 2020 but was permanently grounded for maintenance after just a few weeks, and then returned to the lessor. Since then, Surinam Airways has not had a widebody aircraft in its fleet. Between June 2021 and early 2023, the financially troubled airline did not have any in-house aircraft in its fleet. It currently operates a single B737-800 delivered in January 2023.

Photos:Surinam

 

Surinam Airways issued a press-release in which it announced it has secured the lease of a single Boeing B737-800 from lessor AerCap.

The aircraft, PZ-TCV (30730), is currently being prepared at Phoenix-Goodyear (AZ) and will be flown to Paramaribo as soon as all final tests are done. The Boeing is featuring a new livery and was previously operated by Caribbean Airlines. The airline will mainly use the aircraft on its important route to Miami-International (FL).

Surinam Airways has been without any aircraft in its fleet since June 2021 when its last Boeing B737-700 was repossessed by the lessor due to the financial difficulties of the airline. For its route to Amsterdam, the airline is wet-leasing capacity from Airhub but hopes to also add its own aircraft for this in due time.

Photo: Surinam Airways.