KUALA LUMPUR: Malindo Air aims to have a fleet of 100 aircraft in the next 10 years and will extend passenger services to South and East Asia, particularly Southern China in 2015.

To date, Malindo Air has 11 ATR72-600 and seven Boeing 737s.

Chief executive officer Chandran Rama Murthy said the carrier would also introduce strategies to increase ancillary income throughout 2015.

“While we are very much focused on expanding ATR operations this year, we are looking to enhance our capacity and route network further to include Boeing operations,” he said in a statement to announce the commencement of a new daily flight service from Kuala Lumpur to Nepal on Feb 6, 2015.

Kathmandu will become Malindo Air’s 18th international destination and seventh destination in South Asia, after five destinations in India and two others in Bangladesh By taking delivery of more aircraft order, Chandran said the carrier was poised to introduce more routes to widen its network in the coming months, strengthening air travel demand within the region.

With route expansion into Kathmandu, Chandran said Malindo Air was optimistic of capturing a bigger market to further enhance its network and brand.

“We have ambitious plans for 2015 where we will look at aggressively expanding our brand presence in the region,” he added.

A new Boeing 737-900 would be operated for the Kuala Lumpur-Kathmandu sector and will depart Klia2 daily at 7.05 pm and arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport at 9.30 local time. — Bernama