Air Mandalay to resume Int’l flight in August
by Phanida
Chiang Mai (mizzima) - Air Mandalay, one of Burma’s private (??? junta private?) airlines, is set to resume international flights between Burma’s former capital Rangoon and Thailand’s northern city Chiang Mai in August, it was learnt on Tuesday.
An Air Mandalay official told Mizzima that the airline was forced to suspend international flights in September 2008 due to technical reasons. But having purchased ATR aircrafts, Air Mandalay will operate flights twice a week - Mondays and Fridays – between Rangoon and Chiang Mai.
“We will resume flights in August twice a week. The fares have been fixed at USD 113 for a one-way flight and the flight timings will be mostly in the evenings from Rangoon. We will use two types of aircraft. The bigger aircraft will be 68-seaters and the smaller ones will be 46-seaters,” the official said.
Air Mandalay is a joint venture of Air Mandalay Holdings Singapore and Myanma Airways. It was established on October 6, 1994 and began operations on October 18, 1994.
In September 2008, the airline suspended international flights citing technical reasons. Though it was announced that the airline will resume Rangoon-Chiang Mai flights in October 2008, it could not.
“We heard that they will resume the flights in August. But we don’t know how far it will come true,” an official in a tour agency in Rangoon said.
An Air Mandalay official in the Bangkok office, however, said though they were informed that flights will resume in August, they are not sure.
Air Mandalay has domestic flights to Rangoon, Mandalay, Hehoe, Tavoy, Myeik, Kawthawng, Sittwe, Thandwe, and Tharchileik. The airline also had an international flight between Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai and Rangoon.
