New flights this winter confirm a boom in Myanmar Air Transport

BANGKOK- This Monday, budget carrier Thai AirAsia announced launching a new route from October 4 to Mandalay out of Bangkok with four weekly frequencies in an Airbus A320 with 189 seats according to airline officials. Mandalay will be the second city in Thai AirAsia’s network which already serves Yangon with two daily flights. The carrier now hopes to secure further traffic rights to Bagan –a most probably designated UNESCO world heritage site- and to Nay Pyi Taw, the new administrative capital.

Mandalay is the second international airport in Myanmar. A new airport was opened in 2000 with a 4,268 m. runway and a terminal able to accommodate up to three million passengers.  So far, Mandalay International Airport never lived up to its expectations as it failed to attract international carriers. In the past, there was only a sporadic regional link from Air Bagan to Chiang Mai while the only regular international operation is a Mandalay-Kunming flight from China Eastern.

But times are changing: Thai AirAsia is the only carrier to have so far requested new destinations. It will most probably face competition by early next year on the same route as Myanmar international carrier MAI (Myanmar Airways International) plans to launch non-stop flights between both cities. Flights to Singapore from Mandalay are likely to come soon.

TAA joins a bunch of international carriers which are looking at launching new services to Myanmar or to come back after pulling out during years of sanctions. Among the new carriers expected this winter are All Nippon Airways, Condor, Korean Air, Qatar Airways and more recently Eva Air and Biman Bangladesh. Eva Air announced to fly three times weekly from October 9. The airline said to expect that 30% of its future clients would be in transfer from North America.  MD-90 jets will operate the route initially, with Airbus A321 aircraft taking over the route in the second quarter of 2013, the company said. Eva Air’s competitor China Airlines will increase from September 15 from four to five weekly frequencies.

Biman Bangladesh suspended its flights in 2006. But according to Biman Director of Marketing and Sales, Mohammad Shah Newaz, flights are due to resume from November with two weekly flights with Boeing 737 aircraft on the Dhaka-Yangon-Bangkok route.  

Myanmar’s Civil Aviation Department said 13 foreign airlines served Yangon last year. By this winter, 20 carriers will offer frequencies with passengers traffic in Yangon expected to surge to 3 million this year, up by 22% from last year. By November 2012, total monthly available seats are due to increase by 26% compared to the same month of 2011.

Last July, Myanmar authorities extended issuing visa-on-arrival at Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay International Airports in addition to the Yangon International Airport.

Table: Total number of monthly available seats from Yangon International Airport (November 2012)

(Source: IATA-SRS Analyzer August 2012)

Luc Citrinot

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Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.

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