Kan Air plans to resume flights on several routes suspended last year and introduce new services with the leasing of two aircraft.
The Thai commuter airline has reached an agreement, in the form of a letter of intent, to lease two ATR 72-600 turboprops from a European aircraft lessor that will address its capacity constraints.
Over the past four months, Kan Air has been left with two workhorses, a 66-seat ATR 72-500 turboprop and a 12-seat single-engine Cessna Grand Caravan 208B propeller aeroplane, after the airline returned other ATR 72-500s to the lessor due to technical problems.
Six routes are to be launched this year as the two aircraft are phased into Kan Air's fleet, with the first aircraft due around April and the second a few months later, said Somphong Sooksanguan, president of Kannithi Aviation Co, which operates Kan Air.
Four of the six routes will be relaunched services from the navy-operated U-tapao airport in Rayong, while the other two are from Bangkok's Don Mueang airport.
U-tapao flights will be to Udon Thani, Hat Yai, Krabi and Phuket. While Phuket will be served with one daily flight, the other services will be every other day.
Those services are expected to start in June or July after the delivery of the second ATR 72-600, Mr Somphong told the Bangkok Post.
At Don Mueang, the resumption of a service to Mae Sot and the introduction of a service to Phrae, both with one flight a day, will begin in April.
Those six routes will strengthen Kan Air's network, which has diminished to eight routes out of its Chiang Mai base.
Destinations served from Chiang Mai are Mae Hong Son, Pai, Nan, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, Phitsanulok, Hua Hin and U-tapao. Kan Air hopes the acquisition of the new ATR 72-600 models will enable it to deal with grounding problems.
The leases for the new aircraft are for eight years, indicating they will serve as long-term workhorses for the airline in developing secondary routes not frequented by other carriers.
Kan Air has also been looking to introduce single-aisle jets into its fleet to support its growth strategy.