|
|
Dutch aircraft registers:
The complete aircraft registers of the Netherlands until May 2014 (PH-/H-N) can be found at the
site of Herman Dekker.
Netherlands (PH) from May 2014 onwards
Surinam (PZ)(full, including current)
Netherlands Antilles (PJ)(full, including current)
Aruba (P4)(full, including current; for some aircraft flights are listed)
Netherlands New Guinea (JZ)(full)
All are compiled by Arno Landewers; sources are mentioned in the files.
Sonnig Jets/Falcon Wings operations for the Libyan National Army
The history of Sonnig Jets (full: Sonnig International Private Jets, SIPJ) goes back to 1976, when Sonnig SA (operating as SIPJ) was established in Geneva, Switzerland. Only in more recent years, since 2017, the operations of the Sonnig Jets owned aircraft are connected to Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar is commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), which, in short, opposes the United Nations Security Council, US and EU-recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA). De facto, LNA and GNA control parts of Libya: Tripoli based GNA the western part; Benghazi based LNA the eastern part. Between April 2019 and June 2020 LNA tried in vain to capture Tripoli and gain full control over Libya. LNA is military supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia (originally mainly by Wagner mercenaries), while GNA is military supported by Turkey.
According several publications, Sonnig Jets owner Riccardo Mortana supplied LNA already in 2009/2010 with a Aero L-39 Albatros trainer/light-attack jet, which was bought from US based Cite Aviation LLC. Cite Aviation would later supply more aircraft to Sonnig Jets. The company is owned by Byron Hoffman, and Hoffman and Mortana are both director of Panama based company Interjet Inc.
Sonnig Jets (probably with financing from the UAE) established a base at Benghazi to provide Haftar, his family and LNA officials with air transport. For the operations two legal entities were created: Sonnig International Private Jets Fujairah in Fujairah, UAE (with a “representative office” in Geneva, the base of Sonnig S.A.) and Falcon Wings, also based in Fujairah. Although for now no direct relation between Sonnig Jet and Falcon Wings can be shown (other than a recent announcement on the Falcon Wings internet pages that they “partner” with Sonnig International Private Jets Fujairah on ambulance flights), both companies show on the internet and social media the same aircraft and judging on the flights the aircraft make, Sonnig Jets and Falcon Wings are closely interconnected. For the LNA operations, Sonnig Jets/Falcon Wings shaped a small fleet of business jets (and a single Cessna 208 small transport aircraft):
P4-BAA Dassault Falcon 50EX c/n 318
From August 2017 (but from May 2022 to December 2022 inactive); former N871HM of Interjet NC, Addison, Texas (owned by Hoffman and not to be confused with Panama based, Hoffman/Mortana owned Interjet Inc).
P4-BAB Cessna 208B Grand Caravan c/n 208B2148
From June 2019 to April 2022, was active from Benghazi; Falcon Wings still offers a Cessna 208 on their internet pages.
P4-BAR Gulfstream Aerospace G.550 Gulfstream V-SP c/n 5131
From Dec2020, former N131GA of Cite Aviation.
P4-BTR Gulfstream Aerospace G.1159 Gulfstream IV-X (Gulfstream 450) c/n 4148
From Jul2021, former N527EE of Cite Aviation.
P4-FJA/T7-FJA Dassault Falcon 900DX c/n 616
From Feb2020, from Sep2021 as T7-FJA.
P4-RMA Dassault Falcon 900 c/n 42
From Jun2017 to April2022; to N46HB which probably is operated by Sonnig Jet, but not for LNA/Haftar.
N625CY Learjet 35A c/n 625
Since Dec2020 registered to Cite Aviation LLC, DE. From May2021 to Jul2022 it was operating from Turin, although it was not used often. Since Mar2023 it is present again at Turin (back from the US), but for now it made only a few local flights.
N890DA Gulfstream Aerospace G.550 Gulfstream V-SP c/n 5079
Since Dec2021 registered to Cite Aviation; since Feb2022 the aircraft operates for Sonnig International Private Jets, mainly from Turin, Italy.
The operations started in 2017, at the end of that year 2 aircraft (Falcon 50 P4-BAA and Falcon 900 P4-RMA) were used. The fleet grew steadily to 6 aircraft from July 2021, but from April 2022 2 aircraft were disposed. The remaining aircraft seem now also be used for charter flights not related to the LNA.
From official records of the Aruban aircraft registry (who could in 2017 or 2018 for a short while be seen at their website) it is known that Falcon 50 P4-BAA and Falcon 900 P4-RMA were registered to Sonnig International Private Jets (i.e. not the Fujairah branch) as owner, and operator Golden Eagle Trading FZE, which is a Abu Dhabi, UAE based company apparently active as supplier of equipment for the oil industry and which is connected to the Al Dhaheri investment group (“Al Dhaheri, a well-known native Emirati family involved in various businesses in the UAE for more than 40 years”, according to their internet page). This supports indeed the assumption that there is UAE funding for the Sonnig Jets LNA operations.
As discussed, the LNA is supported by Russia, originally mainly via Wagner Group mercenaries, who were mainly flown in from Syria. On 24 June 2021, Sonnig Jets/Falcon Wings Gulfstream P4-BAR landed at Lagos, Nigeria. The same day Wagner head Prigozhin was seen in Lagos. April 2022 P4-BAR was grounded at Luton as being connected to Prigozhin. But after a few weeks, the aircraft was released again as no direct connection could be proved (which indeed is not there, other that the aircraft may have been chartered by Prigozhin). Possibly other flights to Africa of Sonnig Jets/Falcon Wings aircraft, for instance to Harare (Zimbabwe), Conakry (Guinea) and Bamako (Mali), are connected to activities of the Wagner Group.
All Sonnig Jets/Falcon Wings aircraft visit from time to time Turin, Italy. Here the aircraft probably receive maintenance. According to the Sonnig Jets internet page they work together or partner with Turin based company Flight Solutions. Probably this company is also owned by (Turin born) Riccardo Mortana. They operated Gulfstream 150 9H-LAR (which was provided by Cite Aviation) and was in July 2023 registered as N19ZG to Sunshining Aviation LLC (see also N46HB). N19ZG is currently (23Sep2023) present at Savannah, Georgia, USA but expected to return to Europe.
Listing of flights of above mentioned aircraft until 31Dec2023 are here available. More info, email: alandewers@gmail.com.
| |