Nok plans Myanmar hop

Nok Air plans to operate its first regionall flight connecting Thailand’s border town Mae Sot and  Myanmar’s  port Mawlamyine, later this year.

Nok Air chief financial officer, Vithai Ratanakorn, said the airline will operate service to Myanmar to tap the boom in business travel.

“According to the plan, we will serve the Mae Sot-Mawlamyine route  in September and then Mae Sot to Yangon in October, while a Bangkok (Don Mueang) – Yangon route will start in November.”

The airline is also studying routes connecting Chiang Mai with both Bagan and Yangon.

Late March, Nok Air board director, Somchainuek Engtrakul and chief executive officer, Patee Sarasin, led 20 airline executives to survey the Mae Sot-Mawlamyine route (formerly Moulmein) to gather information on how the service would pan out.

They concluded there were enough traders who needed to travel to the southern port town to justify a service. Frequencies have yet to be set, but to be practical the airline would need to fly at least three times a week.

The survey followed a recent agreement between Thailand and Myanmar to permanently open the Mae Sot border checkpoint to boost cross-border overland trade and tourism. It also aims to capitalise on the 2015 launch of the AEC.

Mae Sot has a small airport that is served by Nok Mini a sub-brand of the airline that uses small Saab 340 aircraft.

Mawlamyine is Myanmar’s fourth largest city after Yangon, Mandalay and the new capital Nay Pyi Daw. The city is the capital of the  Mon  state, which is located southeast of Yangon and shares a border with Thailand.

Mae Sot is the closest border town in Thailand to Mawlamyine  a distance of 100 km  by air. But to drive between Mae Sot and the port city takes several hours on poor roads that pass through mountains and remote areas.

The short flight will be served by a Saab 340 aircraft under a contract with Siam General Aviation. Nok Air already uses the Saab 340s to serve Mae Sot from Bangkok and Chang Mai so it will be relatively simple to extend the flight to Mawlamyine.

However, other matters are not so simple. Mawlamyine airport is currently served by just a few domestic airlines and has not been given government clearance to serve international flights. Myanmar has just three designated  international airports; Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Daw.

Nok claims it has gained special clearance from Myanmar authorities to operate the first international flights to Mawlamyine from Mae Sot, but what is on paper does not always match what happens in  practice.

For example, Nok Air may have to foot the bill to bring in immigration and customs officials to clear  flights and passengers.

Nok attempted to fly to regional destinations earlier in its career and aborted the mission after it became apparent it had neither the sales channels or the financial resources at the time to build a regional network. It  flew to Bangladesh for just a short period and also considered  flights  to  points in India.

Sourced: ttrweekly