Malindo Air will begin turboprop operations out of Kuala Lumpur's secondary Subang airport in June.

The first turboprop, an ATR 72-600, will arrive on Monday, 20 May 2013, says an airline source. It plans to operate six of the aircraft type by end of the year, which will come from the order book of Lion Air regional subsidiary Wings Air.

Data from Flightglobal Pro suggests that the aircraft will bear the registration 9M-LMF and serial number MSN 1081.

On 3 June, the carrier will launch twice daily Subang-Johor Bahru, Subang-Kota Bharu and Subang-Penang services. It will compete with Malaysia Airlines' subsidiary Firefly on the three routes, Innovata schedules show.

The source adds that Malindo has taken delivery of its third Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, and will receive its fourth at the end of May. The aircraft will be deployed on services from Kuala Lumpur to Sibu, Miri and Tawau, starting 11, 14 and 26 June respectively.

Malindo, a joint venture between Indonesia's Lion Air and Malaysia's National Aerospace and Defence Industries, started operations on 22 March with services from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.

It is also slated to receive five Boeing 787-8s ordered by Lion in 2012, and plans to grow its fleet to 100 aircraft within 10 years.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news