Seaborne Airlines announced Monday that it will replace the Twin Otter wheeled planes that fly between the airports on St. Croix and St. Thomas with the 34-seat Saab effective June 1.

Seaborne said the planes have proven popular across the Caribbean. In its announcement, the airline said that coupled with its iconic Seaplane, the Saabs will effectively double capacity on the route between the two islands, underscoring the airline’s continued commitment to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Saab operates with two pilots and a flight attendant on all flights. The planes will allow Seaborne to retire the three-wheeled Twin Otters it operates by Aug. 18, with only minor impacts to the schedule.

No Seaborne employee will lose his or her job as a result of these actions, according to Monday’s news release. The release said the Saab service will require more manpower at the U.S. Virgin Island airports, requiring a shifting of resource and reassignment of tasks in some cases.

“Seaborne receives many questions as to why we don’t fly the bigger planes between St. Thomas airport and St. Croix airport," said Gary Foss, Seaborne’s president and chief executive officer. "With the Seaplane operating between downtown Charlotte Amalie to downtown Christiansted and many more seats from the United States Virgin Island airports, we are confident that Seaborne will offer enough seats to accommodate all of the United States Virgin Islands travel needs.”

Seaborne began bringing in the Saab fleet last year. The Saab 340 was produced by the Swedish company between 1983 and 1998. In all, 459 were built. It is powered by a General Electric turboprop engine and is used by 61 operators in 30 countries, accumulating 13,499,000 flight hours on more than 15 million flights, according to the website Airliners.net.

In the last year Seaborne has launched a codeshare agreement with American Airlines and interline agreements with JetBlue and Delta Airlines. It also added to its route network and now serves 18 airports in the Caribbean, with more than 2,200 monthly departures on those routes.

Seaborne serves San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Vieques, St. Thomas airport and seaplane base, St. Croix airport and seaplane base, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Maarten and La Romana, Santiago, Santo Domingo and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. All flights operate with two pilots and twin engines under Federal Air Regulation Part 121, which the company called the strictest code of the U.S. Federal Air Regulation governing air travel.