Okay Airways became the first carrier to operate the Boeing 737-900ER (extended range) aircraft in China, after it took the delivery from the US company.
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The aircraft will be part of the eight 737-900ER orders made by Okay Airways and the rest of the units will be supplied by Boeing before the end of next year. Boeing 737-900ER is the largest member of the 737 family and has better passenger capacity and range, when compared with other narrow-body airplanes.
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Okay Airways' new airplane is configured with 200 seats in a single-class layout and it will fly on popular tourist routes like Tianjin-Haikou and Tianjin-Sanya from Wednesday.
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"The 737-900ER will further strengthen Okay Airways' fleet of existing 737s by adding more range and capability," said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice-president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes' sales for Northeast Asia.
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With the new addition, Okay Airways' fleet size has gone up to 28, including 13 Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft. The carrier plans to have 30 airplanes in operation by the end of this year.
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At the same time, China's fast-growing outbound tourism market is also providing huge business opportunities for the carrier, which also operates 10 routes to neighboring countries.
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Okay Airways also has a specific plan of aircraft purchases, as it has huge ambitions in the international market. Airplanes with a range of 7,000 kilometers and above will be introduced by the carrier in 2016 or 2017 to develop routes to Europe, although the carrier is yet to decide which type of aircraft it wants to use on these routes.
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 Okay Airways became the first carrier to operate the Boeing 737-900ER (extended range) aircraft in China, after it took the delivery from the US company.
