Mandarin Airlines (AE, Taichung Ching Chuan Kang) has announced it will induct a total of nine ATR72-600 aircraft into its fleet as part of plans to improve the efficiency and profitability of its domestic Taiwanese operations.

The China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) unit said in a statement that of the nine aircraft, six would be sourced direct from ATR - Avions de Transport Régional (EVX, Toulouse Blagnac) via a firm order while three more would be leased from Avation with which it recently signed a Letter of Intent.

The three leased aircraft are expected in October, November, and December of this year while the directly ordered machines will arrive at a rate of two per year from 2018 through to 2020.

China Airlines Chairman Nuan-Hsuan Ho said the ATRs would be used to supplement Mandarin Airlines' current fleet of six E190s and two B737-800s.

Mandarin Airlines currently serves Kaohsiung, Taichung Ching Chuan Kang, Taipei Sung Shan, Penghu, Taitung, and Hualien domestically.