The statement from the Airline said the new aircraft had a capacity of 154 seats and registered as ET-AXI.

It would be operated to the major markets in their network with significant reduction in flight time within the entire ASKY network.

"The introduction of this larger capacity aircraft would strengthen the airline's network by offering more capacity, more frequencies and improve connectivity to Ndjamena (Chad), Bangui (Central Africa Republic) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo)," it said.

"It will also connect Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Niamey (Niger), Abuja (Nigeria) with daily frequency. Brazzaville (Congo) will increase to four weekly flights, while Cotonou (Benin) will increase to three weekly flights".

The statement said the new aircraft reinforced the current fleet of one Bombardier Dash 8 (Q400), five Boeing 737-700 and two Boeing 737-800.

The aircraft has been configured in two classes with 16 Business Class seats and 138 Economy Class seats.