The aircraft can carry up to 114 passengers and Alliance said it would be used predominantly on its regional routes, but there was potential for them to also be used on mainline routes.

The company has previously flagged an entry into the domestic routes following the collapse of Virgin Australia and raised $96 million from a capital raising in July.

“Given the reduced passengers on mainline routes due to COVID-19 the E190 has the potential to be the perfect aircraft type for some mainline routes,” managing director Scott McMillan said.

“Our Fokker fleet remains the core of our fleet and we believe will remain in service for many years to come, especially given our significant spare parts and inventory stores.

However, the company said there were limited opportunities to buy Fokkers and it was also time to buy new aircraft for its next growth phase.

Alliance believes the first financial impact of the new aircraft will not occur until February next year.

The company believed that the deal would have a similar growth impact as it experienced when it bought 21 aircraft from Austrian Airlines in 2015.