India’s Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) places the quantity of inbound passengers who flew into the nation from Myanmar within the October-December 2022 quarter at 2,259, whereas outbound site visitors to the jap neighbour is pegged at 1,815 passengers. The information for freight in its ‘Country-wide international traffic statistics (scheduled)‘ for the Myanmar-India sector in the period records inbound volume at 8.4 tonnes and outbound at 4.2 tonnes. In an interview, Tanes Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Myanmar Airways International (MAI) and Air KBZ, detailed the airline’s plans for its fourth Indian vacation spot Chennai and expressed optimism a few optimistic market response.
What prompted the airline to decide on Chennai as its fourth Indian vacation spot?
Myanmar Airways International determined to launch flights between Yangon and Chennai as we consider there are numerous optimistic indicators in growing point-to-point flights between each markets. Hence it turns into our fourth vacation spot in India after Delhi, Kolkata and Gaya. First, we consider there’s a substantial visiting household and good friend (VFR) section as there are an estimated a million Myanmar Tamils with household and kin again in India. Second, as a year-round vacation spot, Chennai, particularly, and Tamil Nadu usually, have a lot to supply to Myanmar travellers with their non secular websites, which embrace a number of UNESCO Heritage Sites, pure points of interest akin to wildlife sanctuaries, and seashores, and being a hub for medical tourism with a excessive focus of health-care amenities within the nation. We additionally consider that we will place Myanmar, with its distinctive tradition, pure wonders, and Bagan UNESCO Heritage Site, as a vacation spot for outbound vacationers from Chennai and its catchment areas, contemplating its huge market measurement potential of greater than 70 million individuals and different socio-economic elements. Also, from our community perspective, we consider Chennai, among the many nation’s high 5 airports, can be a case examine to look at the general market’s reception to a virgin vacation spot in South India, in comparison with our extra conventional North India flights.
What does MAI have on provide for the traveller from Chennai? What about an e-visa facility?
MAI presents a promotional all-in fare of simply ₹19,500 one-way and ₹37,500 return to have fun our new route launch. Besides that, we additionally present 5 kilograms [additional baggage allowance] free of cost to all passengers travelling on the Yangon and Chennai flights in the course of the first month. The e-visa facility is offered at https://evisa.moip.gov.mm/ with a vacationer visa costing $50 for 28 days and a enterprise visa costing $70 for 70 days.
The airline has stated that the main focus for the Chennai route will likely be visiting buddies and kin (VFR), medical, pilgrimage, and tourism. What is the info for every of these segments? What are the opposite segments? What are the packages for a traveller to Myanmar?
We consider visiting household and kin (VFR) can be the biggest section with about 30%-40% contribution, with the remainder of the focused journey segments to be fairly evenly distributed amongst them. At the identical time, Chennai’s significance within the enterprise sector, we will even goal to develop the company market between each nations. Based on an preliminary market scan, Myanmar journey packages vary roughly from ₹30,000 for 3 days/two nights to ₹90,000 for 10 days/9 nights usually.
The airline has stated it’s seeking to develop Chennai as a transit hub for home switch passengers and past. Are there any particular markets? What in regards to the cargo potential?
We are exploring positioning Chennai as a transit hub for South India, specifically to locations akin to Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Madurai, and past. Regarding cargo, we see a considerable and constant quantity, albeit small, specializing in prescription drugs and human hair shipments.
Are there any agreements which were signed with airways in India? As Air India is a codeshare associate, are there plans for South India preparations?
Yes, Air India is presently our codeshare associate. We are actively engaged on the system integration for seamless codeshare availability and expertise. We anticipate to launch our codeshare operations as early as doable. Indeed, we’re contemplating increasing the codeshare association with Air India as we acknowledge their intensive community protection in India, in line with our plans to place Chennai as an alternate transit hub in India.
Could you elaborate on the airline’s standing in phrases of its aviation infrastructure, engineering amenities and security audits? What in regards to the fleet?
Since our inception, we’ve had the privilege to work with numerous stakeholders throughout the board to make sure air journey is accessible and to advertise the general socio-economic progress of the nation. The MAI fleet consists of 11 plane, specifically 4 Airbus A320s, 4 Airbus A319s and three Embraer E190s, operated by a crew of extremely educated pilots and flight attendants. The security and luxury of our passengers are the airline’s precedence: therefore, we strictly comply with Myanmar Civil Aviation Requirements (MCAR) and cling to the distinctive working requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with MAI being the primary and solely IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) licensed worldwide provider from Myanmar. As a outcome, we’re recognised as one of the carriers with a 7-star ranking by AirlineScores.com, the world’s main security and product ranking company. MAI was named because the “Most Admired ASEAN Enterprise” in Myanmar on the 2014 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Awards, hosted by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC). MAI has been recognised by vital governmental and trade organisations in the course of the [COVID-19] pandemic, together with recognition from the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Overseas Citizens Protection Division for steady operations between each nations in the course of the pandemic and named because the 2021 Airline of the Year in the course of the sixth Incheon Airport Awards by Seoul-Incheon International Airport, one of Skytrax’s high 10 airports.
The service to Chennai will likely be by a mixture of the Embraer and Airbus A320 household of jets. What are the providers on provide?
As MAI is a full-service provider, our visitors take pleasure in many advantages when flying with our provider, together with free baggage allowance of 40 kg for enterprise class and 30 kg for economic system class and an inflight meal, that are half of the airfare. Besides the full-service, MAI visitors additionally will take pleasure in unbeatable worth provides: our Sky Smile, a frequent flyer programme, presents our visitors mileage accruals that are invaluable in direction of their subsequent travels with our provider, whereas the Sky Deals boarding go programme presents as much as 40% reductions throughout greater than 80 companions throughout ASEAN. Furthermore, particular to enterprise visitors, MAI additionally presents complimentary VIP lounge entry with our devoted check-in, baggage drop and customs and immigration clearance for enterprise visitors at Yangon.
Will this flight be one of the world’s longest flights by the Embraer 190? Separately, will this be the longest Embraer E190 flight for Myanmar Airways International?
Our E190 flights between Yangon and Chennai is not going to be one of the longest flights for this plane sort as the common air distance between each factors is roughly 1,418 miles or 2,282 kilometres, which is able to take about three hours and quarter-hour per method. Hence, our flight is far shorter than the world report flight distance held by the identical plane sort between Minsk and Dubai, which clocks at 2,422 miles or 3,898 km. Our Yangon-Chennai flight turns into our second longest flight for our E190 fleet after our Yangon -Taipei flights, which clocks in at 4 hours and quarter-hour. Besides Chennai and Taipei, we additionally utilise our E190 fleet primarily to function flights to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Phnom Penh, Delhi, Kolkata and 10 cities inside Myanmar on our home community. Our Airbus fleet additionally operates alternately on the E190 routes topic to demand issue, with a deal with flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Seoul, Dubai, Guangzhou and Kunming.
What in regards to the Air KBZ hyperlink?
Air KBZ is MAI’s sister provider that operates home locations in Myanmar, serving 17 locations throughout the nation with its fleet of ATR72-600s, together with key locations akin to Mandalay, Thandwe-Ngapali Beach, the Nyaung-U Bagan UNESCO Heritage Site, Heho-Inle Lake and the Myeik-Mergui Archipelago. Both carriers work seamlessly on a codeshare foundation as we share the identical know-how platform; therefore visitors should purchase their tickets by way of the MAI web site or our commerce companions by way of our brokers’ portal. Based on these preparations, our home codeshare community can be accessible by way of all the most important world distribution programs.
