Ukrainian carrier Donbassaero has enlarged its all-Airbus fleet as part of a plan to grow business jointly with its strategic alliance partners.

The Donetsk-based airline has taken delivery of three additional A320s with the fourth due to arrive in August.

This will bring the number of its leased narrowbody Airbus jets to 10, including an A321 in an all-economy layout.

Donbassaero said the fleet expansion should help reinforce air charter services from Donetsk to Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Montenegro.

It will also benefit regular flight programmes run jointly with AeroSvit and Dniproavia within the framework of Ukraine's aviation alliance, formed in 2007.

Since its inception, combining fleets and schedules has helped partners to strengthen their presence on key domestic routes and international markets served from their base airports.

Donbassaero is in the process of setting up an in-house facility to provide technical support - up to heavy checks - for A320 aircraft.

The airline's shareholders in June 2011 appointed Oleg Novikov as general manager. Previously, he had been deputy director for flight operations at Russian budget carrier SkyExpress.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news