Air Austral will wet-lease Boeing 737-800 aircraft from ASL Airlines France between November 11, 2026, and March 27, 2027, to keep Indian Ocean regional flying intact while it retires its Airbus A220s and waits for Airbus A320neos, Air Journal reported on September 30, 2026, citing a joint statement from the two French carriers. One 186-seat 737-800 arrives from the start of the ACMI deal; a second joins for the December–January peak.
Cabin crews will remain Air Austral's; technical crews come from ASL Airlines France. Air Austral president Hugues Marchessaux said the partnership lets the Reunion-based airline protect regional continuity while preparing for A320neo entry. ASL executive director Eric Vincent said mobilizing aircraft and technical crews quickly for other airlines is core ASL expertise. Neither carrier published a line-by-line list of which Mayotte or neighboring Indian Ocean routes will take the chartered 737s.
The bridge exists because of a tight fleet gap. Air Austral plans to remove its three A220-300s permanently by December 2026, after the first already left in September, while two A320neos on letter-of-intent lease from Macquarie AirFinance are expected in March and May 2027. The ASL ACMI window therefore covers most of the months between A220 exit and the first neo arrival. The A220s seat about 132 in two classes; each future A320neo is planned for about 180 seats, so two larger jets are meant to replace three smaller ones.
Pratt and Whitney engine availability problems on the A220 fleet weighed on the small regional operation and helped push Air Austral toward the A320neo path announced with Macquarie in October 2025. Returning temporarily to the 737-800 also echoes the airline's own recent history: its earlier 737-800s were replaced by A220s during the 2021 regional fleet renewal, and this winter's jets will be ASL metal rather than Air Austral-owned Boeing frames.
The two companies already cooperated in 2015, when ASL covered medium-haul passenger and cargo flying for Air Austral ahead of the airline's first Boeing 787-8. The 2026–27 ACMI repeats that technical-crew and airline-cabin split. For travelers over La Reunion, the practical winter message is continuity of regional banks on 186-seat 737-800s under Air Austral flight numbers, not a marketing relaunch of Boeing as a long-term regional type.
Capacity math will matter once the A320neos arrive. Replacing three 132-seat A220s with two roughly 180-seat A320neos raises seats per departure while cutting the number of airframes, so frequencies and cargo belly space on thinner Indian Ocean spokes will depend on how Air Austral rewrites the post-ACMI timetable. Until spring 2027, the ASL 737-800s are the bridge that keeps those spokes from going dark between A220 exit and neo delivery.
Schedule filings can still shift before November 11, and Air Journal's report does not invent frequencies the carriers did not publish. What is verified is the ACMI calendar, the one-then-two 737-800 buildup, the A220 exit by December 2026, the A320neo spring 2027 target, and the crew split. Passengers holding Reunion regional tickets across the southern summer peak should watch for equipment notes showing ASL 737-800 metal behind Air Austral product.
Sources: Air Journal (Sep 30, 2026); ASL Airlines France / Air Austral joint statement as cited.
Comments
Loading comments…