Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines on Tuesday inked a US$650 million (¤443 million) deal to buy 20 turboprop aircraft from France-based manufacturer ATR to boost its budget and rural air services. Ten of the ATR 72-500 planes will be operated by its budget unit Firefly and the rest by MASwings, a new subsidiary set up to run rural services in Malaysian states on Borneo island, it said in a statement. The contract, signed at an international airshow in the northern resort island of Langkawi, includes an option to buy another 15 planes, it said. «Firefly will take delivery of its first ATR aircraft in 2008 while the first ATR for MASwings will be delivered in 2009,» the statement said.
