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Air Moldova is the national airline of Moldova headquartered in Chişinău. It mainly operates scheduled and charter services to destinations within Europe from its base at Chişinău International Airport. The origin of Air Moldova can be traced to 19 September 1944, when the first unit of Po-2 transport aircraft arrived in Chisinau and the Moldovan Independent Squadron was established. Aside from fifteen aircraft Po-2 biplanes operating domestic flights and serving in the agricultural role, there were also two LI-2 aircraft, used on flights to Moscow, some Ukrainian cities and to Black Sea and Caucasus summer resorts. A former Air Moldova Antonov An-24RV In the 1960s, considerable steps in the development of the local airline industry were made. A new airport in Chisinau able to accommodate gas turbine aircraft opened early in the decade. The enterprise received status of Civil Aviation Administration in 1965 and new An-10, An-12 and An-24 aircraft expanded its fleet. Regular flights to many cities in the USSR were begun and the transportation of fruits and vegetables grown in Moldova to the largest industrial centers of the USSR was established. The beginning of the 1970s was marked by the appearance of jet aircraft on Moldova's main air routes. The first Tu-134 began service in Moldova in 1971 and became the main aircraft of the enterprise, increasing in number until at one point 26 of them were in use. In Chisinau there was even an all-union test basis for aircraft of this type. The fleet was further enlarged in 1972 with the Yak-42 regional aircraft and in 1974 with the An-26 cargo aircraft. The route map kept expanding and the flow of traffic kept growing throughout the decade. In the middle of the 1980s, Moldovan operations received ten Tu-154 aircraft, furthering the development of Moldovan aviation. At that time Moldovan aircraft flew to 73 cities in the USSR and carried over 1,000,000 passengers per year. In 1990 the first international route between Chisinau and Frankfurt-am-Main was opened. The airline was created in 1993 on the basis of the local Aeroflot unit. Since its very start, the company’s efforts were targeted at integration to the international market and compliance with the modern standards and requirements to high-end airlines. Air Moldova joined the management team improvement program in 1999. On 13 July 2004, Air Moldova became an IATA member. Air Moldova has also passed the operation safety audit and received the IOSA operator certificate. In May 2006, Air Moldova implemented e-ticketing on all its flights. The Air Moldova air operators certificate permitted the transport of passengers, goods and mail as of July 2007. In February 2015, Air Moldova ceased three routes to Bucharest, Kyiv and Sochi as the contract with Tandem Aero, which operated them on behalf of Air Moldova, was discontinued. Air Moldova operates flights to several European metropolitan destinations from its base at Chișinău International Airport as well as additional seasonal and charter flights to Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. The A319 is a shortened, minimum-change version of the A320. Also known as the A320M-7, it is 3.73 metres (12 ft 3 in) shorter than the A320; four frames fore of the wing and three frames aft of the wing were removed. The reduced seating allows the number of emergency exits to be reduced to six. With virtually the same fuel capacity as the A320-200, and fewer passengers, the range with 124 passengers in a two-class configuration extends to 6,650 km (3,590 nmi), or 6,850 km (3,700 nmi) with the "Sharklets". Four propulsion options available on the A319 are the 23,040-pound-force (102.5 kN) V2522-A5 and 24,800-pound-force (110 kN) V2527M-A5 from IAE, or the 22,000-pound-force (98 kN) CFM56-5B/A and 27,000-pound-force (120 kN) CFM56-5B7. Although identical to those of the A320, these engines are derated because of the A319's lower MTOW. The A319 was developed at the request of Steven Udvar-Hazy, the former president and CEO of ILFC according to The New York Times. The A319's launch customer, in fact, was ILFC, which had placed an order for 6 A319s by 1993. Anticipating further orders by Swissair and Alitalia, Airbus decided to launch the programme on 10 June 1993. Final assembly of the first A319 began on 23 March 1995. The direct Boeing competitor is the 737-700.