Myanmar is going to hire Japanese firms to manage Mandalay International Airport!

Myanmar Airways International believes hiring Japanese firms to manage Mandalay International Airport will increase the airport’s competitiveness and allow it to grow in tandem with Yangon, the main aviation gateway.

The airline reflects the general viewpoint of most airlines serving the country. They want to see Mandalay turned into a major hub for passenger and cargo traffic serving  major points throughout Asia.

MAI general manager, Daw Aye Mra Tha, was quoted by Myanmar Times as saying that the airline would like to add cargo aircraft flights once the airport is upgraded.

“This part of our future plans, but it depends on the upgrades. Currently we only have cargo services to and from Guangzhou in southern China from Mandalay.”

Business people said the northern airport has lots of potential, if upgrades continue as planned.

Mandalay International Airport will receive an upgrade after two Japanese firms and a Myanmar-focused company signed a 30-year concession agreement to operate and rehabilitate the airport.

The airport has been grossly neglected and its management failed to capitalise on Mandalay’s status as the second largest city in the county a major hub for commerce.

Japan’s Jalux and Mitsubishi Corporation and a subsidiary of Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd inked a deal, 17 November, to take over management of the airport effective March 2015.

Jalux and Mitsubishi each own 45.5% of the venture, while Yoma owns the remaining 9%.

The airport’s upgrade will cost USD100 million. Once completed it could capitalise on Mandalay’s status as a transport hub feeding exports to countries in Asia and Europe, according to Department of Civil Aviation general director U Win Swe Thu.

Mandalay stands at an important crossroads for both roads and rivers. Home to a port for river cargo vessels, produce from a vast area of the central region arrives at the city for distribution.

The airport deal is the first for the country and brings to the table private equity and foreign expertise to manage a major airport, the report said.

Mandalay International Airport opened in 2000. The terminal has the capacity to handle 1,000 passenger arrivals and 1,000 departures per hour, up to 3 million per year. Following expansion the airport could be raised to 15 million passengers a year.

Currently Bangkok Airways, SilkAir, Golden Myanmar, AirAsia, China Eastern Airlines and Myanmar Airways International all operate regional flights connecting Mandalay to Bangkok, Singapore, Kunming in China and Gaya in India.

Source: t

tweekly

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Official E-visa for Tourists by Myanmar from September

From September 1st, Myanmar will propose e-visa for tourists landing at Yangon International Airport. A welcome simplification as the rise in tourism could not be matched by consular agencies...

After a first short attempt in 2010 and the possibility to obtain a visa on arrival for people officially invited by the Government, Myanmar will offer from September 1st the possibility to get an online visa for tourists arriving exclusively at Yangon International Airport. The information was confirmed mid-August by Myanmar Ministry of Immigration and Population. Once the e-visa procedures for tourists start to run smoothly, authorities expect to extend the facility to business visas.

Tourists will need to file their application on the Ministry of Immigration and Population’s website. It will take approximately five open weekdays for the ministry to check out the visa application. Once it has been approved, the ministry will send an official confirmation that the traveler will have to proceed with their travel arrangement to the country.

Once at Yangon International Airport, the visitor will show the print letter of confirmation and have his visa issued. The cost of the e-visa is fixed at US$ 50. However, authorities will still have the right to refuse the entry despite the e-visa approval. The visa will have to be used within three months of approval and will be valid for 28 days. It will be available to all nationalities.

The simplification of visa procedure is likely to further boost total arrivals to the country. Myanmar expects to reach three million foreign arrivals this year and targets seven million of arrivals in 2020. Tourism revenues could reach this year over a billion dollars for the first time of the country's tourism history.

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Domestic Terminal of Yangon International Airport to be upgrade

Myanmar has approved the plan to upgrade the domestic terminal at Yangon International Airport, to boost capacity from 2.7 million passengers to 6 million a year.

According to the Department for Civil Aviation, the government’s economic committee, chaired by President Thein Sein, recently approved the upgrade of Yangon International Airport. The economic committee has representatives from 15 ministries. Department for Civil Aviation general director, Tin Naing Tun, said the department has received the economic committee’s approval for the upgrade. 

According to the upgrade plan, the domestic terminal will be demolished and replaced by a new terminal in 18 months. Meanwhile, the airport’s VIP hall will be used as a domestic terminal during the construction period. The international terminal will remain unchanged. Pioneer Aerodrome Services, a subsidiary of Myanmar’s conglomerate Asia World, was selected for the upgrade. 

Yangon International Airport is the main international gateway, although Mandalay has seen a big increase in airline traffic. International arrivals increased from 1.6 million tourists in 2009 to 3.08 million tourists in 2012, according Yangon airport data. The international terminal opened in May 2007 and handles 1.4 million passengers, while the domestic terminal handled 1.3 million passengers last year. To help ease the congestion at this airport, Myanmar is also planning to build a new international airport in Hantharwady, which is expected to start operations in 2017. The Hantharwady International Airport will be located at Bago is 80 km from Yangon.

This will provide an easier access for tourists to travel within Myanmar and avoid the overloading situation in the high travel season.

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Myanmar to build new airport

Yangon International Airport

From Threeland Travel's Blog - July 2012

Myanmar is looking for investors to develop a new airport near Bago that ultimately lead to the phase out of Yangon Airport as the main gateway.

AFP reported this month, arrivals at Yangon International Airport are expected to surge to around 3 million in 2012, a 22% increase on last year. That would put the airport over its 2.7 million threshold, according to the Department of Civil Aviation. “We need a new airport because of increasing traffic at the current airport… is quite difficult to handle,” said DCA assistant director, Nwe Ni Win Kyaw.

The planned Hanthawaddy airport will be on a site nine times bigger than the current facility and located about 80 km from downtown Yangon, the country’s main commercial centre. The site was identified by the fminitary junta three years ago as the replacement for Yangon’s airport, which has limited space to expand.

Work is expected to start in June 2013, with the airport operational by 2016. Veiled from the world for decades under a brutal military junta, the Southeast Asian nation has seen an influx of tourists and business travellers in recent months, attracted by a swathe of changes under a new reformist regime.

Arrivals in Yangon — including both domestic and international passengers — surged to 1.53 million in the first half of 2012, more than the number that passed through the airport in the whole of 2008.

The city’s current airport, which sees the vast majority of Myanmar’s overseas air traffic, is also slated for expansion, allowing it to cope with the 5.4 million visitors expected in 2015.

“But 5.4 million would be the highest limit we could deal with,” said Nwe Ni Win Kyaw. Myanmar has two other international airports, in Mandalay and in the capital Naypyidaw, but they are not fully operational.

The new airport plan is part of a larger scheme by the DCA to ultimately privatise all the country’s airports.

There are currently 14 international and six domestic airlines flying from Yangon airport and six new foreign carriers are in discussion with the DCA about operating in the country.

(Asia Travel News)

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