Proflight Zambia (P0, Lusaka) has reached a new milestone with the deployment into commercial service this week of its first Zambian-registered CRJ200LR, the airline announced.

The privately-owned airline plans to use the 50-seater 9J-PFZ (msn 7391) to relaunch a direct service between Ndola International and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, South Africa on April 25.

Complementing Proflight Zambia's existing fleet of one CRJ100LR and three Jetstream 41s, the addition of the CRJ-200LR will also allow the airline to increase its frequencies on its popular LusakaJohannesburg O.R. Tambo, South Africa route with double daily flights 4x weekly from April and daily on all other days.

With a range of about 3,150 km, the jet also opens up the expansion of Proflight Zambia's footprint on other regional routes, the airline said. Other potential regional routes include Cape Town International, South Africa; Mauritius; and Luanda 4 De Fevereiro, Angola.

Meanwhile, it will be deployed on domestic routes to Ndola, Livingstone, Mfuwe, and Solwezi, said Proflight Zambia (Director Flight Operations) Josias Walubita.

The aircraft made its first commercial flight as a Zambian-registered aircraft this week, having been approved by the Zambia Civil Aviation Authority (ZCAA).

It was previously flown as OY-MIL by Copenhagen AirTaxi (CAT, Copenhagen Roskilde) and is owned by Avmax Aircraft Leasing, the ch-aviation fleets module reveals.

The jet had arrived in Zambia in January and made its inaugural commercial flights between Lusaka and Livingstone and from Livingstone to Ndola this week after its crew completed type training in maintenance and operations in line with local safety regulations.