TWO new foreign airlines – Hong Kong Express Airway and Vietnam Airlines will begin flying into Myanmar soon under respective bilateral agreements between Myanmar and the region, 7-Day news journal reported on August 23.

The two airlines are coordinating the introduction of flights with Myanmar’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), the DCA was quoted as saying.

Vietnam Airlines is expected to open direct air links with Myanmar by November this year. The plan to begin flights was proposed Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, during his visit to Myanmar in the middle of August, according to official Vietnamese sources.

Myanmar has bilateral air agreements with 45 countries and 14 foreign airlines already fly into Yangon, including 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.

China Southern Airlines is the most recent carrier to start flights into Myanmar, which began in early July from Guangzhou.

In addition to regular carriers, DCA officials said Mandarin Airlines of Chinese Taipei is allowed to land charter flights in Myanmar.

And more foreign airlines are also planning to set up links with Yangon in the future, including Emirates Airlines of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bangladesh’s Biman Airlines, according to airline sources. A draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Myanmar’s DCA and the UAE equivalent was initiated in January this year and flights will begin as soon as it is approved by both governments.

Biman Airlines, meanwhile, previously offered flights between Dhaka and Yangon but halted them in the last two years because they were losing money.
Bangladesh has sought the resumption of direct air links with Myanmar to promote the export of pharmaceutical products. Myanmar is Bangladesh’s third largest market for pharmaceutical exports.

Negotiations for the resumption of flights were held during a visit to Myanmar in April this year by the adviser to Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

Meanwhile, civil aviation authorities in the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) sub-region of ASEAN are seeking enhanced cooperation to develop air transport within the bloc.

According to an earlier official report, senior aviation officials from the CLMV countries met in Yangon in May this year to discuss the implementation of air transport agreements.

Under a multilateral agreement reached in Phnom Penh in April 2005, CLMV countries are to seek the promotion of air travel, cargo and tourism services.

The terms of the agreement allow airlines from CLMV countries to fly to designated airports in each country. Early reports indicate that Myanmar has listed the newly upgraded Yangon terminal and Mandalay airport as preferred airports; Vietnam has nominated seven airports including Hanoi, Ho Chi Ming City and Da Nang; Laos has designated Vientiane, Luang Prabang and one more; while Cambodia has only put forward the Phnom Penh airport.

The agreement was first proposed at a meeting in Phnom Penh in 2001. Myanmar has already signed bilateral air transport accords with Laos in 1991, Cambodia in 1995 and Vietnam in 1996.

Myanmar and the Philippines have also been exploring enhanced cooperation in the air sector, with negotiations held in recent years to hammer out air services agreements.

The expected increased in air traffic is expected to be handled capably by the newly renovated Yangon International Airport, which was put into service amid much fanfare on May 25 this year.

Airport authorities say the facility can handle aircraft as large as the Boeing-747 and can process 900 outbound and 900 inbound passengers every hour.

The airport was designed by Singapore’s CPG Airport Consultant Co Ltd and jointly built by DCA and a private firm, Asia World Co Ltd Construction began in 2003. – Xinhua