Sweden's West Atlantic cargo airline has won a contract from Royal Mail Group to add additional aircraft to the UK postal operator's domestic air network in 2017.

The contract, subject to a public procurement process, commences in January 2017 and will run for five years, consisting of nine Boeing 737s and three British Aerospace ATP aircraft.

In a statement, the Gothenburg-based cargo carrier said: "West Atlantic was selected to be the sole provider of aircraft capable of carrying between 8-21 tonnes. Once fully implemented, the award will increase Group revenue by approximately 25% annually."

West Atlantic chief executive Fredrik Groth said: “We are delighted with the results of this tender process. This award represents a significant commitment from Royal Mail Group to implement an extremely high quality network of dedicated cargo aircraft to support its world class delivery service for the next five years.”

The final contract will be subject to board approval and is expected to be completed in the "upcoming weeks".