HOUSE OF THE WEEK
An abundance of space at FMI City
CERTAINLY, space is not a problem in this house – once you get there. Over the Hlaing River, 45 minutes from downtown, there is a large one-storey house in a big compound waiting for someone ready to trade time for space. ...moreFew major airline developments in 2009
Sales agents process bookings at Sun Far ticket office in downtown Yangon. There were few major developments in the local airline industry in 2009 but bookings improved towards the end of the year as tourism began to recover.DOMESTIC and foreign airlines serving Yangon International Airport offered some new services and ticket deals in 2009, but the year saw few major developments in the country’s airline industry.
Myanmar Airways International (MAI) added a new city to its small stable of destinations – which include Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore – inaugurating direct flights to Gaya, India, on October 25.
The Yangon-Gaya flights are available on Wednesday and Saturday, departing Yangon at 9am and arriving in Gaya at 10:30am. The return leg leaves Gaya at 11:30am and land in Yangon at 3pm.
MAI’s marketing executive, Daw Aye Mra Tha, said the flights make it more convenient for pilgrims from Myanmar to visit Bodhgaya, the site where the Buddha gained enlightenment and founded the Buddhist religion.
The airline uses a recently purchased 162-seat Airbus A320 for its flights to Gaya, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, while the Singapore flights are offered with its code-share partner Jetstar Airlines.
From December 23 to March 27, 2010, MAI has also increased its Yangon-Bangkok service from seven to nine times a week, with the additional flights scheduled to depart Yangon at 7:30am on Thursday and Sunday.
Daw Aye Mra Tha said the airline had full bookings for all flights from November through January, but she declined to say how this compared with bookings during the same period last year.
In November and December MAI, in collaboration with Iran Air, also offered charter flights for Hajj pilgrimage to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Daily flights departed Yangon from November 12 to15, with return flights leaving Jeddah from December 26 to 29.
The Yangon-based Gulf Travels and Tours Company also ran charter Hajj flights on aircraft leased from Pakistan International Airlines, with six flights departing Yangon from November 10 to 17, and return flights scheduled for December 25 to 29.
“We had more than 2000 Hajj pilgrims for the six charter flights,” said U Ko Ko Latt, the managing director of Gulf Travels and Tours.
Meanwhile, China Eastern Yunnan Airlines introduced a direct flight service between Yangon and Kunming, China, starting on October 24. The flights are offered on Wednesday and Saturday.
“There is a 30-minute stopover in Mandalay for flights in both directions and tickets can be purchased at Sun Far and Sudeli ticketing agencies,” said Mr Li Dong, the deputy manager of the airline’s Yangon office.
A number of deals in airline tickets have been offered throughout the year, including the ASEAN Pass ticketing program introduced in June by Malaysia Airlines, in which vouchers can be bought that are valid for up to four flight sectors within the ASEAN region.
Mr Chali Awang, the airline’s area manager, said the ASEAN V-Pass for economy class flights costs US$229, while the $729 J-Pass can be used for business class flights.
“The bookings for ASEAN J-Pass and V-Pass are overwhelming, and the ASEAN Pass program will be extended to 2010,” Mr Chali said.
He said the airline has had a booking rate of about 65 to 70 percent for the Yangon-Kuala Lumpur route for December and January, an increase of about 50pc over the same period last year.
“The situation last year was quite different because we faced a financial crisis and fewer people were travelling,” he said.
Some airlines have recently introduced e-ticketing service to Myanmar, including Bangkok Airways and domestic airline Yangon Airways.
“[Yangon Airways], with its local sales agent, Shan Yoma Travels, resumed its e-ticket service in early December, following eleven months of suspension due to a modified e-ticket system program,” said a spokesperson from the airline.
She said Yangon Airways suspended flights to Myeik, Dawei and Kawthoung in southern Myanmar on November 15 so more peak-season flights to Bagan, Mandalay and Heho could be scheduled. The southern routes will resume next April.
A travel industry insider told The Myanmar Times that the resumption of Yangon-Chiang Mai flights by Air Mandalay originally slated for August 2 this year has been postponed until further notice due to unavailability of aircraft.
The airline suspended the flights in August 2008 due to low passenger numbers and the availability of only one aircraft for domestic service.
However, the Myanmar Marketing Committee reported in its Decem-ber newsletter that Air Bagan planned to start scheduled flights between Yangon and Chiang Mai on Thursday and Sunday, effective from January 7.
Meanwhile, work on upgrading the runway at Sittwe Airport was finished in May, and the airport now has the capacity to land Fokker F28 aircraft with a load of 73,000 pounds (32,900 kilograms), according to the Department of Civil Aviation.
A spokesperson from the department said the upgrade included repaving the asphalt on the 6000-by-150-foot (1800 by 45 metre) runway, as well as on the 600-by-300-foot (180 by 90m) apron; renovating the runway strip; and installing lights along the runway and signal lights along the approach roads.
