Aurora (HZ, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) is looking to double its fleet of A319-100s from the current six over the next few years as the Russian Far East carrier pushes ahead with its ambitious expansion plans.

"In the future, we are going to buy six more aircraft of this type. Our plan is to increase the number of routes from from 30 to 128. So the new Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) aircraft will not remain idle," an airline spokesman told Russia's Ria Novosti newswire.

Founded last year following the merger of SAT Airlines (Russian Federation) (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) and Vladivostok Air (Vladivostok), Aurora is 51% owned by Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) with the rest in the hands of the Sakhalin Oblast regional government. It currently operates a diverse fleet also including B737 Classics, DHC-6s, DHC-8-200s, and DHC-8-300s.