Kaladan News

Dated: Thursday, January 06, 2005

Burma Int’l Carrier to Spread Wing to Japan

Chittagong, January 6: The Burma Airways International (BAI) will spread wing to Japan early this year as its sixth destination of international flight, the local news journal 7-Day reported on December 29, 2004.

Negotiation on direct flight to Osaka or an indirect one via Hong Kong using MD-82 air craft is soon completed, the MAI sources was quoted as saying.

The BAI, which is the country’s first international carrier and also the first Burma-foreign JV airline between the state-run domestic Burma Airways and the Region Air based in Singapore, has been operating since 1993 its services to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The forming of the BAI was followed by two other Burma-foreign JV ones, the United Burma Airlines and the Air Burma, in two recent years to reinforce the country’s international air transportation.

Official statistics show that foreign airlines that link Rangoon include Air China, Thai Airways International, Silk Air, Malaysian Airline System, Biman, Indian Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, Lauda Air, Druk Airlines, Phuket Airlines and Bangkok Airways.

It is reported that two more foreign airlines, the Sri Lankan Airlines and a Middle-East airline named the Qatar Airways, will also fly Rangoon beginning early this year.

Burma’s domestic airlines are represented by one state run Burma’s Airways and three joint ventures which are Air Mandalay, Rangoon Airways and Air Bagan. Of them, the Air Mandalay has extended its flight to Thailand’s Chaing Mai as a regional one.

To boost its air transport, Burma has added seven new air ports since 1988, bringing the total number of airports in the country so far to 28. Meanwhile, a total of 13 projects of upgrading the existing airports are underway with three more new airports being under construction, most of which are expected to complete by 2006, according to official sources.

Moreover, upgrading of aircrafts to raise its domestic transport capacity is also being made by gradual substitution of the existing Netherland made Fokker-28 or 27 with ART. ##

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