New Myanmar Airline Golden Myanmar Adds Aircraft - Ttr Weekly Article

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This, along with Air KBZ adding 2 aircraft - should help shortage on domestic routes during the busiest season.....

Golden Myanmar adds aircraft

January 28, 2013 by Rapeepat Mantanarat

Filed under Aviation, Mekong Region, News

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BANGKOK, 28 January 2013: Golden Myanmar Airlines will take delivery of its second A320 at the end of February and hopes to use it to start its first regional service to Singapore.

The airline is planning a Mandalay-Yangon-Singapore service in March, but the exact launch date has not been announced. It will also consider services to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur shortly afterwards according to GMA’s commercial department.

On the domestic front, the airline plans to start other routes to add to its single service on the Mandalay-Yangon sector.

According to its business plan, by the end of 2014 the fleet will grow to five aircraft (three A320s and two ATR72s) and by 2016 it plans to have 11 aircraft (seven A320s and four ATRs).

The online booking on GMA’s website should be up and running by mid-February.

In addition, Myanmar Airways International is still confident it will be able to start a service between Mandalay and Bangkok by the second quarter of this year. It tried to gain approval to launch a triangle route linking Bangkok, Mandalay and Yangon.

However, it failed to gain permission to pick up traffic domestically and onward to Bangkok, according to MAI country manager, Thailand and Cambodia, Ye Jhan.

He told TTR Weekly that the airline hopes to start flying a nonstop Mandalay-Bangkok service by the end of March depending on the availability of aircraft. However, it is still keen to link it to a Yangon-Mandalay service with full traffic rights that will allow the airline to sell through to Bangkok in both the Yangon and Mandalay travel markets.

Mandalay is fast becoming an interesting destination for regional airlines. China Eastern Airlines and Thai AirAsia operate regional flights to the city. Bangkok Airways has announced it will start a service, Bangkok-Mandalay, from 26 September.

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2013/01/golden-myanmar-adds-aircraft/