A young national airline founded in 2018, with two Airbus narrowbodies and routes to China, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia already opened.It has two China routes: Xiamen and FuzhouFor Chinese exporters it solves a very specific need:getting cargo into Timor-Leste, a young country of about 1.4 million peopleWhether for infrastructure projects and aid materials in the capital Dili, or for consumer goods, a direct or efficiently connected air channel is needed.
All-passenger operation · cargo in the belly hold · Dili reachable nonstop from Xiamen or Fuzhou, or via Bali, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur · we provide the complete air freight plan from China
Aero Dili (registered as Aero Dili Transport Services S.A.) is the national airline of Timor-Leste, with headquarters and main operating base in the capital, Dili.Timor-Leste lies at the eastern end of the Nusa Tenggara islands in Southeast Asia and only restored independence in 2002, making it one of the world's younger countries. Its civil aviation history has an unusual feature: several attempts to build a state airline stalled because the market was too small. On 21 June 2018 the businessman Lourenco De Oliveira founded Aero Dili and it becamethe first carrier to obtain a domestic scheduled flight air operator certificate (AOC) from Timor-Leste's civil aviation authority, then gradually added international routes and is now widely regarded as the country's de facto national airline.
On its founding year, public accounts agree: 21 June 2018.On 21 June 2026 it operated the first Dili to Darwin (Australia) flight, marking its birthday with eight years of operation plus a new route. Its China milestones are equally specific: the Dili to Xiamen route opened in February 2025, the first scheduled passenger service from China to Timor-Leste, reported by CCTV News and other official media; on 24 January 2026 the Fuzhou to Dili route opened under flights 8G891/8G892, planned at two flights a month (one return trip every two weeks), cutting journey time from more than 24 hours via a third-country connection to about 6 hours.
Its ownership and scale are simple:Two aircraft (as of September 2026), about 40,000 passengers a year, and a workforce similar to most regional airlines. The carrier is small on the global map, but in Timor-Leste it is the main air channel for citizens leaving the island and for foreign materials coming in: a substantial share of Chinese aid project equipment, machinery, building materials, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods moves on it.
For a freight forwarder, the airline combines last-leg delivery with sole-channel access.There are no freighter flights from China to Dili; the usual options are nonstop from Xiamen or Fuzhou in a passenger belly, or transit via Bali (Indonesia), Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Aero Dili covers Dili and points east, including the rare Dili to Oecusse exclave route. Oecusse lies on the coast about 150 km west of Dili, separated by Indonesian territory, so road access means a long detour and multiple border crossings and a direct flight is the only practical option. That route matters for local medicine and food supply and is a key to understanding how the airline operates.
Its core value: for cargo bound for Timor-Leste, Aero Dili is a name you cannot avoid.It may not be the largest capacity option, but it is one of the most direct ways into Dili. For time-sensitive shipments of moderate volume, a nonstop belly from Xiamen or Fuzhou with our agency connection is a predictable channel.
Aero Dili is the air bridge linking this young country to the outside world. Its own network covers Dili, Oecusse, Bali, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Xiamen, Fuzhou and Darwin,from a Chinese export perspective, Xiamen and Fuzhou are two doors straight into Dili.
① Itno freighters. Both aircraft are passenger planes, cargo travels in the belly, mostly loose loaded with some container capacity.
Second, itswindow in China is Xiamen and Fuzhou, with one flight a week and one every two weeks respectively, carrying modest but steady volumes.
Third, cargo to Timor-Lestehas transit options via Bali, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur beyond the nonstop flights, and which one to use depends on commodity and transit time.
| Item | Content | Item | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | Aero Dili (rendered as Air Dili in some sources) | English name | Aero Dili (registered as Aero Dili Transport Services S.A.) |
| Country | Timor-Leste (Southeast Asia) | Head office location | Dili, Timor Plaza CBD3, Rua Presidente Nicolau Lobato, Comoro, Dili |
| Main operating hub | Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, Dili (DIL / ICAO: WPDL) | IATA two-letter code | 8G |
| ICAO three-letter code | DTL | Founded and first flight | Founded 21 June 2018 with a domestic scheduled AOC |
| Air waybill (AWB) prefix | No published IATA numeric prefix (the carrier's actual issuance governs at booking) | Company type | Private (widely regarded as the national airline of Timor-Leste) |
| Active fleet | 2 aircraft: Airbus A320-200 plus Airbus A319-100 (as of September 2026) | Network size | 2 domestic points (Dili, Oecusse) plus 6 international points |
| Annual passengers | About 40,000 (published figure) | Official website | www.aerodili.com |
Schedules are compiled from the airline's published timetable and 2026 launch reports; the carrier's confirmation on the day of booking governs.
| Route | Flight number | Schedule | Outbound (from Dili) | Return (from China) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dili-Xiamen | 8G881 / 8G882 | 1 flight a week (Tuesday/Wednesday) | Tuesday DIL 18:30 → 23:00 XMN | Wednesday XMN 00:30 → 07:00 DIL |
| Dili-Fuzhou | 8G891 / 8G892 | 1 flight every two weeks (Saturday) | Saturday DIL 18:00 → 22:00 FOC | Saturday FOC 23:55 → 06:45 next day DIL |
| Dili-Kuala Lumpur | — | 2 flights a week (Tuesday/Saturday) | Connections between Timor-Leste and China can be routed via Kuala Lumpur | |
Opened in February 2025, it isthe first scheduled passenger route from China to Timor-Leste, with a flight time of about 5.5 hours. One weekly flight departing at night and arriving in the morning leaves comfortable room for connections; Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport is itself a major cargo gateway in East China, and cargo can be consolidated from Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong for export.
Opened on 24 January 2026 and operated as 8G891/8G892,two flights a month (one return trip every two weeks), departing in the evening and arriving in the morning. Fuzhou Changle Airport is a major Fujian gateway, and the route mainly serves trade and diaspora traffic between Fujian and Timor-Leste. For shippers it gives a second option beside Xiamen, and the two gateways can be chosen by proximity to the cargo origin.
Timor-Leste has a small economy and imports mainlyconstruction materials, machinery, building materials, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods, usually in small lots, in many batches, with moderate sensitivity to transit time.
That mix suits a narrowbody passenger belly, which does not need freighter tonnage but does needa stable schedule and reliable agent connections. Nonstop from Xiamen or Fuzhou with our tracking is currently the mainstream choice.
Airbus A320-200 (registration 4W-AAL): the workhorse.The aircraft was previously operated by Bangkok Airways and later moved to Aero Dili, reconfigured with a 2-2 business class cabin and economy, seating about 160 to 162. It flies most international routes from Dili, including Xiamen, Fuzhou, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.For cargo, the biggest advantage of the A320 family is that the forward hold takes containers such as the LD3-45 ULD, adding a loading method beyond the loose-load-only belly of the Boeing 737 and making palletised and containerised handling more orderly.
Airbus A319-100 (registration 4W-AAO): the new arrival in 2025.Delivered in January 2025 and previously operated by China Eastern Airlines, the aircraft is about 18 years old, has CFM56 engines and was acquired on dry lease from AFG Aviation Ireland, an SPV of an Irish aircraft finance company. It is deployed on domestic routes (Dili to Oecusse) and some international routes.The A319 and A320 share the same cockpit and most parts, so the two aircraft sit under one maintenance system, which is central to cost control for a carrier with only two aircraft.
A third aircraft: on the way.Aero Dili management has said publicly that another aircraft may join in 2027, and new international routes including additional Darwin frequencies are under review.In practice the capacity ceiling is two narrowbodies, and per-flight cargo capability will not change by an order of magnitude in the foreseeable future, so plan space around limited frequencies and tight availability.
The direct answer on freighters: it has none, and will not in the short term.All cargo moves in the belly holds of the two passenger aircraft. That defines a small-but-steady cargo proposition: reliability of connection rather than tonnage.
① The forward hold takes LD3-45 containers, with a door about 1.22 m high that standard small containers pass through.
② The aft hold is loose load, where pieces up to about 1.5 m and 80 kg handle most smoothly.
③ Total belly volume is about 30 to 40 cubic metres(the A319 and A320 differ slightly), and sellable tonnage varies with passenger load and baggage.
| Aircraft type | Number | Seat layout | Belly loading method | Role at Aero Dili |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 1 aircraft | About 160 to 162 seats (2-2 business class plus economy) | Forward hold takes LD3-45 containers, aft hold loose load | Main international aircraft, flying Xiamen, Fuzhou and Kuala Lumpur |
| Airbus A319-100 | 1 aircraft | Single-class layout (ex China Eastern, joined January 2025) | Forward hold takes LD3-45, aft hold loose load | Domestic exclave route and some international routes |
| Total | 2 aircraft | All-passenger configuration | Belly loading only | 0 dedicated freighters |
| Cargo types | Fit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Samples, express parcels, documents | Suitable for | Small pieces with tight deadlines, easily carried in the belly |
| Consumer goods, small appliances, apparel | Suitable for | Piece sizes are manageable and lots are frequent, which suits narrowbody belly space |
| Pharmaceuticals and vaccines (temperature-controlled) | Confirm flight by flight | Depends on whether Dili and the transit point can accept temperature-controlled cargo; verify shipment by shipment before booking |
| Construction materials, machinery parts | Depends on the individual piece | Pieces up to 80 kg that fit through the cargo door can fly; oversize cargo is better by sea or charter |
| Full-pallet, full-ULD and full-container bulk cargo | Not suitable | Narrowbody belly space is limited; large volumes should be split into lots or moved by sea or on a widebody service with transit |
As of September 2026, Aero Dili has no separate cargo office in mainland China and no published China cargo hotline.That fits its fleet size: a carrier with two aircraft does not usually set up its own cargo sales office in China, and takes volume through destination stations, ground service agents (GSA/GSSA) and forwarder networks. The Chinese city it flies to is served by that city's station and ground agent, and those are the practical service points.
Its Xiamen service is handled at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and its Fuzhou service at Fuzhou Changle International Airport. In practice, pickup at the Chinese airport, customs declaration, capacity requests, air waybill production and end-to-end tracking are handled throughcooperation between the freight forwarder and the airline's ground agent, and the customer does not need to contact Aero Dili directly: send us the destination city, cargo type, pieces, weight and dimensions and the transit time required, and we break the movement into workable steps.
Any information circulating online under the name of an Aero Dili China representative office has no official source at present. If any contact asks for an advance deposit, security payment or capacity reservation fee, verify it with us first.
Address: Timor Plaza CBD3, Rua Presidente Nicolau Lobato, Comoro, Dili, Timor-Leste
Hub airport: Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, Dili (DIL)
Website www.aerodili.com · routes, times and ticketing are governed by the official site
Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN) — one flight a week
Fuzhou Changle International Airport (FOC) — one flight every two weeks
Ground handling at the station is provided by the airport and local agents; we coordinate the details at booking
Cargo from China is handled through freight forwarders; we deal with the airline's ground agent and capacity sales.
Phone and email are provided after booking is confirmed, to avoid noise from public channels
The only scheduled routes from China to Timor-Leste are Xiamen and Fuzhou, both flown by Aero Dili.A direct flight means the simplest air waybill structure and the most controllable transit time, and suits cargo that cannot be routed around, such as pharmaceuticals, samples and urgently needed parts.
The forward hold of the Airbus A320 family takes LD3-45 containers,one more handover option than the bulk-only hold of the Boeing 737,so boxed cargo can be handed over in containers, with lower damage rates and more disciplined loading.
The Xiamen and Fuzhou services bothdepart at night and arrive in the morning, so cargo is loaded at night, lands at dawn and can be cleared the same day, matching working hours in Dili.
Beyond the direct flights,Bali, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are all established transit hubswith denser schedules. When the direct flight has no space or the volume exceeds belly capacity, a transit routing keeps the channel open.
Timor-Leste is in a period of large-scale reconstruction and infrastructure work,and China is a major trading partner and source of aid,so demand for building materials, machinery and pharmaceuticals is steady and the channel has a continuing cargo base.
As the only airline operating in Timor-Leste, Aero Dili holds an AOC from the national civil aviation authority and keeps expanding its network,which means the channel will not disappear overnight, giving shippers a firmer basis for long-term capacity arrangements.
Send the destination city, weight and dimensions, cargo type and target departure date; we quote against the capacity available that day
Confirm that the cargo category is acceptable (temperature-controlled and dangerous goods need shipment-by-shipment approval), recorded in writing by both sides
Request Xiamen or Fuzhou capacity from the airline's ground agent, or confirm the transit connection
Issue the air waybill, customs declaration and accompanying documents, with the waybill structure set out for each shipment
Deliver to the airport, clear customs, warehouse and load; tracked throughout to Dili
Coordinate clearance in Dili and confirm delivery, with a Dili to Oecusse connection where needed
Xiamen has one flight a week and Fuzhou one every two weeks,so missing the cut-off means waiting one or two weeks. Lock capacity once the cargo is confirmed, rather than asking at the last minute.
The temperature-controlled facilities and the dangerous goods acceptance conditions at the Timor-Leste destination stationare not published as a list on the airline website,so they must be checked with the carrier before booking; ship only after a written answer.
Keep each piece under 80 kg and small enough for the cargo door (about 1.2 m high),since full-pallet cargo may have to be broken down into bulk at the airport,and such rework is charged at the airport, so packing to the size limits from the start is cheapest.
Clearance in Timor-Leste requiresa commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin, and some goods also need an import permit. Incomplete documents leave cargo stuck at the airport and incur storage charges.We issue a document checklist for the destination country when the booking is taken; check every item before dispatch.
On a thin route, the forwarder matters far more than on a major lane.The carrier has no office in China, so schedules, capacity, aircraft limits and habits at the destination airport all have to be asked about, tested and watched by the forwarder.
A competent Timor-Leste forwarder should do four things for the customer:
Oecusse is a Timorese exclave west of Dili, separated by Indonesian territory, so road travel means a detour and several border crossings. Aero Dili operates the short Dili to Oecusse route,a lifeline for medicines, food and people moving in and out. An airline willing to allocate an aircraft to such a route is operating with a public service remit rather than purely commercial logic, which for shippers usually means the route will stay stable.
On 21 June 2026, its eighth anniversary, Aero Dili opened a Dili to Darwin route with two flights a week. Darwin is Australia's northern gateway,and the route extends the Aero Dili network to Australia for the first time, opening a possible path for Chinese cargo via Dili and Darwin into northern Australia, although belly capacity still carries the traffic.
The airline's slogan is Build the Nation. Timor-Leste became independent in 2002 and imports much of its infrastructure and consumer material,with China a major trading and aid partner. The route pattern to Xiamen and Fuzhou reflects that trade structure; the airline sees itself as part of the country's external connections, which explains why a small schedule stays reliable.
Management has said publicly that it is considering a third aircraft in 2027.For shippers this means capacity on the lane has room to grow if volumes to Timor-Leste keep rising, and a forwarder with an established relationship has more leverage when space is tight.
Does Aero Dili fly to China, and how often?
Yes, it is one of only two carriers flying direct from China to Timor-Leste. There are two routes: Xiamen, one flight a week (departing Dili on Tuesday and returning from Xiamen on Wednesday), and Fuzhou, one flight every two weeks (round trip on Saturday). Both are passenger aircraft and cargo travels in the belly.
Does Aero Dili have dedicated freighters, and how much can it carry?
There are no dedicated freighters; the two aircraft (A320-200 and A319-100) are both passenger aircraft. Airbus narrowbody belly space is about 30 to 40 cubic meters, the forward hold takes LD3-45 containers, and sellable tonnage moves with passenger numbers and baggage, so it must be checked flight by flight with no block guarantee.
What is the Aero Dili air waybill prefix?
No IATA numeric air waybill prefix for Aero Dili is recorded in public sources (its IATA two-letter code is 8G and its ICAO three-letter code is DTL). The prefix on the waybill the carrier issues governs; we confirm it with the carrier for each shipment at booking.
How long does transport from China to Dili take?
The direct flight takes about 5.5 to 6 hours; both the Xiamen and Fuzhou services depart at night and arrive in the morning. Allowing for airport handover, loading and clearance in Dili, delivery is usually completed 2 to 4 days after handover in China; transit via Bali, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur takes 4 to 7 days. These are indicative ranges, not commitments.
Can dangerous goods, temperature-controlled cargo and pharmaceuticals be carried?
This depends on the category and the station and must be checked item by item. Acceptance conditions for temperature-controlled and dangerous goods at the Timor-Leste station are not published on the airline website, so we verify with the carrier the acceptance approval for that station and that flight before booking, and reply to the customer only after a written answer, with no verbal commitments.
Should cargo from China go direct or by transit?
It depends on volume and time: small, urgent shipments go direct from Xiamen or Fuzhou; large volumes or shipments that miss the schedule go by transit through Bali, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur; bulk building materials may suit a sea-air combination. We compare the options against piece weight and dimensions and the required transit time, and verify rather than assume.
From a Chinese airport to Dili: the choice between direct and transit, sea against air, and the documents required, all confirmed item by item by a specialist freight forwarder.
Contact us for an air cargo planDeparting China · international air freight forwarder · (an independent freight forwarder, not a branch or representative office of Aero Dili)