►► TUNISIA: DGAC reportedly refuses to certify Tunisair's leased HiFly A310.

The prospects of Tunisair (TU) operating an A310-300 (MCN 565 | CS-TEX) on wet-lease from Portuguese ACMI specialists, Hi Fly (5K), for the duration of summer are getting slimmer and slimmer following reports that authorities in Tunis have refused to certify the aircraft on the grounds that it was not compliant with local "safety and air-worthiness regulations."

According to AeroTunisie, Mr Kamel Ben Miled, the director general of the Tunisian Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC), in an interview with Tunisia's Watania2 television station, said the national carrier had been "banned" from operating the A310 despite it already being in the country.

Private carrier Syphax Airlines (FS) had faced similar obstacles in certifying its own A330-200 though was recently granted its airworthiness certificate. Syphax Airlines boss Mohamed Frikha had said the delay in certifying the aircraft had cost his airline USD30'000 (TND50'000) a day while accusing the DGAC of siding with Tunisair.

Reference HiFly's response to the claims: ► PORTUGAL: HiFly refutes all claims pertaining to its A310 and the Tunisian authorities.