The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has allocated the IATA airline designator letters HQ to Sino-LAC Air (Timor) SA, the Sino-Timorese operator of a new airline, the Civil Aviation Administration of China says.

The Chinese regulator announced that allocation of the IATA airline designator on Monday is a step toward the new airline taking to the air.

In January the Plataforma Macau newspaper reported that the new airline intended to start in April scheduled return passenger flights between Timor-Leste and Macao via the Philippines.

The report said the airline was a joint venture by Air Timor of Timor-Leste and Sino-LAC Airlines of China, a subsidiary of Sino-LAC Holding Group, a company on the Mainland Chinese island of Hengqin, adjoining Macao.

Sino-LAC Airlines intends to start a cargo service between Macao and Portugal by next year, the report quoted Sino-LAC Holding Group President Yuan Lie as saying.