BoA - Boliviana de Aviación (OB, La Paz El Alto) Chief Executive Officer Ronald Casso has announced that the airline's nascent subsidiary - BoA Regional (OB, La Paz El Alto) - will, at last, launch domestic operations this year following the delivery of its maiden aircraft.

Speaking at a press conference in La Paz last week where he announced the mainline carrier's decision to acquire B737-700s and B737-800s, Casso said BoA Regional would operate four 'fifty-seater' aircraft the first two of which are expected to be in service this December. He did not disclose which type had been acquired.

While BoA Regional has been linked to the MA-60, BoA's Regional Director for Europe, José Romay, said earlier this year the type had been abandoned owing to its lack of hot-and-high certification. As a result, other options such as Bombardier Aerospace's jets and turboprops as well as BAe Systems' Avro/146 quadjets had been considered given their suitability to the local terrain.

Conceived of in early 2014, the project was set to launch in late 2014 but stalled due to a lack of available financing.