Peace brings new opportunity for Vincent Aviation

Wellington-based Vincent Aviation believes a defence contract servicing New Zealand personnel in war-ravaged East Timor could be the springboard to wider commercial operations there.

The company is considering basing in Dili a Cessna F406 turboprop that was taken out of service after being replaced by a larger $5.8 million Beech 1900C aircraft. Captain Peter Vincent said the Cessna might be used for flights between Darwin, East Timor, Bali and Singapore.

At present, only one other civilian operator is servicing East Timor. Captain Vincent said that while the market was difficult, a host of business opportunities were emerging as the country recovered.

For the past eight months, Vincent Aviation has been providing an almost daily mail, freight and passenger service between Darwin and the New Zealand base at Suai.