Tunisian start-up Syphax Airlines has reportedly signed a tentative lease deal for two Airbus A319s for delivery early in the second quarter of next year ahead of its planned May 2012 launch. The carrier has been established by local businessman Mohamed Frikha, the owner of local telecommunications provider Telnet and will in initially operate from a base at Thyna International Airport in the ancient city of Sfax on the country’s Eastern coast.

The city is currently linked to just a single international destination through a twice weekly link to Paris CDG by flag carrier TunisAir. The airline’s regional division TunisAir Express also provides domestic connections to Djerba and Tunis but only on a twice weekly and single weekly basis, respectively. Syphax Airlines plans to offer regular scheduled flights to destinations in Belgium, France, Italy, Libya, Morocco and Turkey before later expanding to markets in the Middle East and North America, subject to approval of relevant route licences.

Around 5.1 million O&D passengers flew on scheduled air services in, out and within Tunisia in the last year, down from 5.3 million in the previous 12 month period. This decline can be attributed to the turmoil in the Middle East at the start of this calendar year. The turmoil hit the country’s valuable tourism sector, one of Tunisia's biggest sources of revenue, and also disrupted other service industries and manufacturing.

An analysis of the largest international markets from Tunisia shows that the start-up will be serving four of the top five countries, based on O&D demand. France is largest international market and accounts for over a third of the total traffic (36.8 per cent), followed by Italy (8.7 per cent), Libya (5.8 per cent), Germany (5.7 per cent) and Belgium (4.3 per cent).

Syphax Airlines will initially offer services to nine destinations with up to daily flights to Paris, Rome and Tripoli and less frequent services on a weekly, twice weekly or three times weekly basis to the French cities of Lyon, Marseille and Nice, alongside flights to Benghazi, Casablanca and Istanbul.