Travel Service Airlines (Prague Václav Havel) has announced it secured a further nine B737 MAX during the month of November 2017.

The Czech operator said in a statement that the acquisition, sourced via two unspecified lessors, now brings its overall backlog to thirty-nine of the type. Of those thirty-nine, eight are direct purchases with the remaining thirty-one aircraft to be leased from GECAS, AerCap, Air Lease Corporation, and BOC Aviation.

As it currently stands, Travel Service expects eight B737-8s to deliver in 2018 followed by fifteen more in 2019. The nine additional aircraft will be added in 2023.

Travel Service expects to start MAX 8 operations from mid-January 2018 onwards. The aircraft will be used to connect Prague Václav Havel with each of Tenerife Sur, Hurghada, and Dubai International initially followed by further afield destinations such as Salalah, the Cape Verde Islands, and Zanzibar.