Two new foreign airlines -- Hong Kong Express Airway and Vietnam Airlines will fly Myanmar soon under respective bilateral air agreements between Myanmar and the region and the country, the local 7-Day news journal reported Thursday.
The two airlines are making coordination with the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) of Myanmar for the move, the DCA was quoted as saying.
Of them, the Vietnam Airlines is expected to open direct air link with Myanmar by November this year under a plan proposed during Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's visit to Myanmar in the middle of this month, according to Vietnamese official sources.
Myanmar has bilateral air agreements with 45 countries and regions, under which 14 foreign airlines are flying Yangon which include Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Silk Air, Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Jetstar Asia, Phuket Airline and Thai Air Asia.
Of the foreign airlines that presently fly Myanmar, the China Southern Airlines was the latest that links Guangzhou with Yangon starting early July.
Apart from the agreed airlines linking Myanmar, the Mandarin Airlines of Chinese Taipei is allowed to land in Myanmar on a charter flight basis to facilitate regional passenger transport, DCA officials said.
More prospective foreign airlines that link Yangon in the future will be Emirates Airline of the United Arab Emirates and Biman Airlines of Bangladesh, airline sources also said, adding that once the draft memorandum of understanding between Myanmar and the UAE, initiated in January this year between civil aviation authorities of the two countries, is approved by both governments, the Emirates Airline will start flying Yangon.
As for the Bangladeshi Biman Airlines, it originally had flight services between Dhaka and Yangon in the past but stopped its services in the last few years due to economic losses.
Bangladesh has sought for the resumption of such direct air link with Myanmar aiming to promote export of pharmaceutical products to the Southeast Asian neighbor which stands as Bangladesh's third largest pharmaceutical products exporting country.
Negotiation was held over such resumption during a visit to Myanmar by Adviser to Bangladesh Foreign Ministry Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in April this year.
Meanwhile, civil aviation authorities of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) are seeking enhanced cooperation among the four to develop air transport in the sub-region.
According to an earlier official report, senior aviation officials of the CLMV countries met in Yangon in May to discuss the implementation of agreements on air transport of the four countries.
Under a multilateral agreement reached in Phnom Penh in April 2005, the CLMV countries are to seek promotion of air travel and cargo as well as tourism services among the four latest members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The multilateral agreement provides for airlines in the CLMV countries to use designated airports in each country and imposes no limit on the number of passengers on flights.
According to earlier reports, Myanmar has reportedly initially set Yangon and Mandalay international airports in the list, while Vietnam nominated seven including those at Hanoi, Ho Chi Ming City and Da Nang, Laos three including those at Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and Cambodia one which is Phnom Penh.
The agreement was first proposed at a meeting in Phnom Penh in 2001 and Myanmar signed bilateral air transport accords with Laos in 1991, with Cambodia in 1995 and with Vietnam in 1996.
So far, there are regular flights to Yangon operated by airlines from three other ASEAN member countries -- Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Thai Air Asia, Phuket Airlines, Silk Air (Singapore) and Malaysian Airline System -- among 14 foreign air carriers that fly Myanmar.
Moreover, Myanmar and the Philippines have been exploring enhanced cooperation in the air sector, negotiating since a few years ago to work out an air services agreement between them, according to air industry sources.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's new terminal of the Yangon International Airport has been put into service since May 25 after about four years' renovation aiming to improve its handling of the international flights.
After the renovation, the airport can be capable of accommodating larger aircraft such as Boeing-747 and handling 900 outgoing and 900 incoming passengers simultaneously in an hour, or 2.7 million passengers a year, according to the DCA.
The new renovated airport was designed by Singapore's CPG Airport Consultant Co. Ltd and jointly built by DCA and the private Asia World Co. Ltd since 2003.
Source: Xinhua
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