Private airline revives

VIENTIANE  Lao PDR’s first private airline, Phongsavanh Airlines, will be revived as Lao Central Airlines and resume services after a two-year suspension.
Air Transport World news reported the airline will start service to Luang Prabang and Bangkok in Thailand later this year, from a base in Vientiane.
Launched in late 2011 with two Boeing 737-400s, the airline stopped scheduled flights in December 2013, citing unrest in its key market Thailand as the key reason.
The Vientiane-based airline — which currently has just one aircraft, a Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 (SSJ100-95) — plans to start services later this year to Luang Prabang from Bangkok.
inside no 1LCA chairman, Od Phongsavanh, was quoted as saying the relaunch will be timed to take advantage of the new ASEAN Open Skies agreement due to be ratified later this year. However the agreement depends on each country signing off details on air routes and capacity caps and it is unlikely to have an impact until 2016.
He added that the carrier has a long-term plan to serve Danang in Vietnam and Siem Reap in Cambodia.
It will use SSJ100-95s aircrraft from Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. and possibly Boeing 777-200s and 737 MAXs, to eventually introduce long-haul international routes, the chairman said.

sourced:ttrweekly.com