Air KBZ launches regional flights to Mae Sot and Chiang Mai from Yangon

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                  / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

The domestic flight subsidiary of Myanmar Airways International (MAI), Air KBZ (also known as Air Kanbawza), plans to launch two regional routes, from Yangon to Mae Sot on 27 October 2014 and from Yangon to Chiang Mai on 1 November 2014 using its 68-seater ATR-72 aircraft, according to Air KBZ General Manager Myat Thu.

The Yangon-Mae Sot route to be launched on 27 October 2014 will be operated five days a week in co-operation with Nok Air which recently dropped the route. No other Myanmese airline flies to Mae Sot, a border town where many Myanmese migrants live.

Air KBZ will operate on the Yangon-Chiang Mai route four times a week under a code-sharing arrangement with Mann Yadanarpon Airlines.

Mann Yadanarpon Airlines is a private airline founded by Lin Myat Tun, U Kyaw Myo and U Than Oo with its operations based in Mandalay International Airport. It was granted a permit by the Myanmar Investment Commission under the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law in July 2013 to operate air transportation services on domestic and international routes. The airline currently offers commercial flights from Mandalay to Yangon, Nyaung U, Heho, Kengtung, Tachileik among other domestic destinations using two ATR 72-600 aircraft and plans to launch flights to Chiang Mai in 2016 using a leased Airbus A320 aircraft. 

Chiang Mai has a large Myanmese population and receives many visitors from Myanmar. Currently two airlines of Myanmar, Air Bagan and Golden Myanmar Airlines, operate flights to Chiang Mai from Yangon. Air Mandalay and Asian Wings Airways have suspended flights to Chiang Mai.

Air KBZ plans to buy one new ATR-72 aircraft by this month and purchase another in January 2015 to boost frequencies on its domestic and regional routes. It currently operates 16 domestic routes with six aircraft.

The owner of Air KBZ is Kanbawza Bank, part of the business empire of tycoon Aung Ko Win. The bank also owns an 80 per cent stake in MAI, which began thrice-weekly scheduled charter flights to Osaka on 8 October 2014 and return flights from Osaka via Phnom Penh.