State owned Myanmar National Airlines (MNA) is received a new ATR 72-600 series plane hired from ATR Company from France, sources said.

The MNA has ten ATR 72-600 series planes and one ATR 72-500 series plane and the new plane will be added in domestic and overseas flights.

The plane flew from Toulouse, France and spent three nights in airports in Greece, UAE and India before flying to Yangon, said a pilot from the MNA.

The airline signed an agreement with the French aircraft manufacturing company to buy six new ATR 72-600 series aircrafts from it and the company provided to open a major maintenance facility, recognized by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), at Yangon International Airport.

The cost of large-scale maintenance, including 8-year checks, amounts to more than US$700,000 for a 2007 model ATR aircraft and over $400,000 for a 2010 model in Singapore. The large-scale maintenance in Malaysia will cost over US$500,000 for a 2012 model ATR aircraft.

However it will be cost over US$100,000 in Myanmar for large-scale maintenance.