With 4 Airways, another provider of ACMI and charter flights is launching. The company received the AOC and operating license from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malta on March 27, 2024.

First of all, they want to take off with the Boeing 737 Classic, because TM-CAD has issued the CAMO license for this series. The young aviation company is based in Birkirkara, the largest municipality in the Republic of Malta. The official company name is “4 Airways Limited”. The entry in the commercial register was made in November 2023 and, according to available documents, the aviation law documents were issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of Malta on March 27, 2024.

4 Airways does not currently have an IATA two-letter code. The ICAO designator is DAK and the radio callsign is Duck Airways. The first aircraft to be registered in the Maltese aviation register is the Boeing 737-400 with the registration 9H-FIT, which was delivered to Aero USA in 1992 and subsequently passed on to Air Berlin.

The old aircraft has a long history behind it, as Air Berlin was by no means the last operator. This Boeing 737-400 was used by Air Explore, Bremenfly, Albastar and Albawings, among others. 4 Airways is still extremely tight-lipped about how the fleet will develop and for whom it will provide charter and/or ACMI services.

It is now quite unusual in this business area to take off with an old aircraft. Compared to the NG series and the Max series, the Boeing 737 Classic series is considered to be extremely fuel-hungry and, due to its age, quite maintenance-intensive. The low purchase or leasing costs can definitely take revenge on the tanker or in the hangar. As long as you have these costs under control, operating older machines can be cheaper due to low credit or leasing costs. The emphasis is on “can” because it depends on the overall calculation as well as external factors such as fuel purchase prices.