Mandarin Airlines' first ATR 72-600 has entered into commercial service, operating a Taipei Sungshan-Magong flight on 14 February.
The aircraft registered B-16851 operated its inaugural flight as AE375, carrying 70 passengers.
With the addition of the ATR 72 to its fleet, the China Airlines subsidiary will will raise the frequency of its Kaohsiung-Magong service from daily to six-times daily from March. It will also operate thrice daily between Taichung and Magong, and six-times daily from Sungshan to Magong.
Mandarin Airlines
Services on all three routes are currently operated using Embraer 190s.
Mandarin has said that with the introduction of the turboprops, its six E190s will turn its focus to international services.
It has three ATR 72s in its fleet, all of which have been leased from Avation. It has also signed with ATR for another six units and is scheduled to take two aircraft annually over the next three years, with all nine aircraft in service by 2020.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
