Myanmar Agrees On Commercial Flights

Myanmar has updated its aviation agreements with South Korea and Bangladesh to open the way for commercial flights.

The respective civil aviation departments of Myanmar, South Korea and Bangladesh amended aviation contracts and updated clauses that were outdated. Most of Myanmar’s aviation agreements date back to the close of World War II and in many instances were not updated.

The country Civil Aviation Department general director, Tin Naing Tun, was quoted by local media as saying: “We had to cancel clauses that were not suitable in the present situation.”

In the new agreements airlines of Bangladesh and South Korea can apply for traffic rights at multiple destinations rather than just Yangon.

Myanmar International Airway and Air Bagan both have secured rights to fly to Bangladesh last year.

Due to the changes in the aviation contract with Korea, KAL and Asiana Airlines can now fly to cities in Myanmar.

Myanmar has aviation agreements with 46 countries and the ones with Europe and, United States were the most liberal dating back to air transport agreements signed in 1949. They basically gave airlines from the US and UK freedom to fly as many services as they liked. The option was never taken up as the country closed and sanctions were introduced to prevent airlines serving the country.

As a member of ASEAN, the country will have to adopt an “Open Skies Policy” in 2015, which will allow ASEAN registered airlines greater access to Myanmar’s skies – and ultimately allow them to serve domestic routes. The policy will be limited to international services to major cities designated by each country leaving the domestic options to much later.

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Cambodia Plans To Establish The First Aviation School

Cambodia plans to establish its first civil aviation school to help improve the country’s aviation industry using a grant from South Korea.

According to Xinhua online media, Cambodia plans to set up the first ever Civil Aviation Training Centre with South Korean assistance to train more people in aviation related skills.

The Council of Ministers’ Press Unit deputy director, Ek Tha, was quoted as saying: “South Korea agreed to provide US$10.1 million in a grant to Cambodia for the project.”

It has taken more than a year to get to the announcement stage after Cambodia and South Korea signed off on an agreement detailing the project.

Most of the delays reaching an accord were understood to be related to the need to have checks and balances in place to ensure transparency in the grant’s accounting.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Sok An and Baek Sook Hee, head of the Korean International Cooperation Agency in Cambodia, signed the project agreement on earlier this month, he said.

The deputy director cited: “The project is very crucial because Cambodia needs to acquire knowledge and technology necessary to improve its aviation industry.”

The construction of the centre will start in the second half of 2014 in the eastern compound of the Phnom Penh International Airport on a plot of 8,000 square metres, he said.

The construction will be completed in a year with necessary facilities for training airline staff, he said.

In addition, South Korea will send experts and instructors to train Cambodian airline crew at the centre until 2017.

The local media also quoted the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation undersecretary, Say Sokhan, as saying: “Once the facility is complete, Korean experts will train Cambodians to become pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants and airport security guards.”

“There are only about 20 Cambodian pilots right now…and they were all trained in the Soviet Union,” he said, adding that SSCA officials are currently required to travel oversees for training.

Cambodia received 4.3 million air passengers in 2012, up 14.7% year-on-year, according to the Cambodia Airports’ data.

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New Flights To Korea By Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines will add four weekly flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Incheon and five weekly flights on the Hanoi-Busan route starting 28 October.
The airline announced the additional services would serve growing tourist demand for holidays in Vietnam.

The airline will add four more flights on the route Ho Chi Minh City-Incheon route, coded VN406 and VN407 and operating Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Five flights will be added on the Hanoi-Busan route, designated VN429 and operating Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
With the new flights, there will be 11 flights a week on the HCMC – Incheon route and 12 flights a week on the Hanoi-Busan route.
South Korea is one of Vietnam’s main tourism markets. During January to August this year, the country welcomed 504,292 Koreans increasing 10.0% year on year.

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Funding grows to restore Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat - Cambodia

From Threeland Travel's Blog - September 2012

The Cambodia government signed an agreement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, late last week to assist in safeguarding Angkor Wat, the country’s most prestigious World Heritage site.

The deal was inked between Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers, Sok An and UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, Anne Lemaistre. Rome University’s Professor, Valter Maria Santoro, who heads the Italian technical mission for stone consolidation in the temple, said the two-year project will focus on the restoration of a moat embankment at Angkor Wat.

Mr Sok An said the second phase project will cost US$250,000 including US$200,000 from the Italian government and US$50,000 from the Cambodian government.

“The Italian government, through UNESCO, has been involved in helping to safeguard Angkor Wat Temple since 1994…. the continuous support signifies a further cooperation between Cambodia, UNESCO and Italy.”

Currently, Cambodia has been collaborating with 14 countries and 28 international teams who are handling 60 different projects to preserve and restore the temple.

The Angkor archeological park is Cambodia’s most important cultural tourism attraction, located 315 km from the capital Phnom Penh.

The temple was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992.

From January to June this year, 1.06 million international tourists visited the temple, with South Korea, Vietnam and China topping the suppliers’ list. There were 61,340 Thai tourists, a 201% increase over the same period.

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July marginally better for Vietnam’s tourism

Vietnam Timeless Charm

From Threeland Travel's Blog - August 2012

HANOI, 7 August 2012: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism estimates the country welcomed 466,000 international travellers in July representing a marginal increase of 1.30% over 460,000 visits registered during the same month last year.

Thailand’s outbound trips to Vietnam ranked 10th on the country’s listed top markets with 16,833 visits down 4.5% over the same period last year.

China led the field with 90,741 visits, down 26.33% from 123,167 visits followed by South Korea, Japan, the United States, Taiwan and Cambodia.

Neigbouring Cambodia slotted in at sixth place supplying 23,033 visits, but decreasing 44.15% from 41,242 visits during the same month last year.

All of the top markets are in Asia/Pacific region, with the exception of the United States and France.

The bulk of arrivals in July (380,000) passed through the two main aviation gateways Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

For January to July this year, international travellers showed an improvement of 10.99% to 3,832,427 visits compared to 3,452,820 visits during the same period last year. VNAT updated its data on website, late last week, sourced from the government’s statistic office.

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