Reports, image by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News (1)
Myanmar Airways International launches flight to Novosibirsk on 5 September 2023
Myanmar Airways International (MAI), that currently celebrates 30 years of flight operations from Yangon, has announced on Facebook on 12 August 2023 that it is launching its first long-haul flight to Russia on 5 September 2023. It has scheduled twice-weekly passenger flights to Novosibirsk, the Siberian capital of Russia and Russia nuclear hub, from Yangon via Mandalay. This plan comes despite looming sanctions on the airline by a Singaporean bank.
According to schedules, MAI flight 8M130 departs from Yangon for Novosibirsk via Mandalay on 5 September 2023 at 2.05 pm, stops over in Mandalay at 3.10 pm for more passengers to board before leaving Mandalay for Novosibirsk at 4.10 pm and touching down in Novosibirsk at 11.10 pm.
MAI's outbound flight from Novosibirsk leaves the Russia nuclear hub at 12.10 am on 6 September 2023, arrives in Mandalay at 5.55 am before taking off for Yangon at 6.35 am and landing in Yangon at 7.40 am under flight 8M131.
MAI flies to Novosibirsk on Tuesdays and Saturdays, It leaves Novosibirsk for Mandalay and Yangon on Wednesdays and Sundays. The flights are operated by MAI's A320 aircraft.
News (2)
Mandalay is Novosibirsk's second Asia passenger destination
Novosibirsk is the first western city on the international airport route network of Mandalay while for the Novosibirsk airport, Mandalay is its second Asian airport destination after Phuket while Ural Airlines is scheduled to inaugurate the Russian airport's third Asian route to Vientiane on 29 October 2023.
News (3)
Novosibirsk is MAI's first western city destination in 30 years
MAI is the first airline from Southeast Asia to launch scheduled passenger flight to Russia in 30 years when the rest of the world are sanctioning Russia for its Russia-Ukraine war. The Novosibirsk route is the airline's first route outside Asia.
News (4)
MAI's deep-rooted links with Myanmar Junta and Russia exposed
According to The Irrawaddy, MAI is owned by Aung Aung Zaw, who sponsors junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s international travel and Russia, the major arms supplier of the Myanmar Junta regime, has been the only country Min Aung Hlaing can visit so far since the coup.
Amid international sanctions, Myanmar’s junta and Russia’s government have established and fostered multi-sectoral cooperation, from politics, diplomacy and nuclear technology, arms supply, to education and health.
Direct flights are a new step in collaboration between Myanmar Junta and Putin's Russia.
They also follow a cooperation agreement between Myanmar’s junta and Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom last year, which has major subsidiaries in Novosibirsk.
The flights will debut about one year after Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Russia when he met President Vladimir Putin and discussed direct flights to promote tourism.
News (5)
MAI as Myanmar Junta's key business partner faces financial sanctions from UOB on 15 August 2023
MAI was previously the national carrier and is now Myanmar's largest private airline. Kanbawza Group, owned by top crony Aung Ko Win, took it over under Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government. Aung Aung Zaw, who heads 24 Hour Groups of Companies, acquired the airline from Aung Ko Win in late 2018.
Ma Yadanar Maung, a spokesperson for advocacy group Justice for Myanmar (JFM), told The Irrawaddy: “MAI is a key business partner of the Myanmar military junta. MAI and the Myanmar Air Force have shared aircraft and the junta leadership use an MAI-branded aircraft for their international travel, including to Russia, where the junta leadership has discussed business and the purchase of arms.”
Following U.S. sanctions against two Myanmar state-owned banks – Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank—crucial to supplying U.S. dollars for the regime, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) said it will shut all of MAI’s bank accounts by 15 August 2023.
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