MASwings Sdn Bhd, a unit of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), will replace its three ageing DHC6-300 Twin Otter aircraft by end-2014 with the 19-seater DHC6-400 aircraft to better serve the rural areas in Sarawak and Sabah.

Its chief executive officer, Captain Mohd Nawawi Awang, said MASwings will phase out the DHC6-300s, which had been in operation for 30 years and were no longer in production, once it completed the delivery of the new DHC6-400s by November 2014.

Nawawi said MASwings will take delivery of the first DHC6-400 by end-August this year.

The new aircraft will start service by September, he said.

“The new aircraft will support the existing three DHC6-300s for the rural air services (RAS). We expect two more deliveries in October and November this year,” he told a media briefing in Miri today.

Nawawi said the fifth and six aircraft were expected to be delivered in May and November next year.

He said MASwings signed an agreement with Viking Air Ltd of Victoria, Canada in February this year to buy six DHC6-400s that included flight and maintenance training along with comprehensive spares support package.

Nawawi said MASwings’ fleet replacement programme will transform and redefine the RAS business which in the past was characterised, among others, by ageing aircraft, sub-standard facilities and limited frequencies.

Currently, MASwings uses the DHC6-300s to service the RAS in Sabah and Sarawak covering 13 routes.

The new DHC6 400s will have a stretcher for those in need of medical attention and is equipped with required navigation performance approaches equipment which will enable the aircraft to land during marginal weather, thus reducing cancellation of flights.

- Bernama