The 50/60-seat turboprop’s other customers are from Latin America, Africa and elsewhere in Asia. The aircraft has received 136 orders so far. China’s first LCC, Okay has increased its focus on the regional market in recent years and last year it signed a lease deal with China Aviation Industrial Leasing Co. for 10 MA60s which will join its current fleet of eight B737s.

Okay President Liu Jieyin said the first MA60 will operate from Tianjin to Dalian, Yantai and Jinzhou. Over the next two years the carrier expects to take delivery of the remaining nine, helping it to establish a regional network connecting Tianjin to northern, northeast and central China and complementing its trunk routes to Kunming, Hangzhou, Haikou, Sanya, Guilin and elsewhere.

It currently flies eight 737s. China Aviation Industry Corp. Group Chairman Lin Zuoming said Okay’s successful MA60 introduction marked the beginning of Chinese turboprops’ batch operation by domestic carriers and he is confident the aircraft will become “a role model to earn profits for Chinese airlines.”