New Delhi (Mizzima) – Two Xian MA60s entered service on Wednesday for domestic carrier Myanma Airways to mark Burma’s National Day after it bought them from their Chinese manufacturer, according to a source close to the airline.
Purchased in September last year, they replaced two Fokker F27 Friendships that ended service after 40 years of use with the airline. “The two aircraft entered into services yesterday,” a person close to Myanma Airways said yesterday.
The MA60 has a capacity of 60 passengers and is made by Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation, a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Corporation 1 since 2000. The estimated unit price is about US$12.5 million.
Myanma Airways in July sent 12 pilots, eight aeronautical engineers, two flight attendants and two navigators to China to gain experience on the MA60.
Although they were trained in China, the pilots and engineers were still unfamiliar with the MA60’s design, a former Myanma Airways aeronautical engineer said.
“Xian MA60 uses ATR engines and the switch layout is very unfamiliar for pilots and aeronautical engineers from Burma,” he said, referring to French-Italian ATR aircraft, which with the MA60, also uses modified Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprop engines.
The aircraft is widely used in China and developing countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Three incidents involving the plane occurred last year; two at the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport in the Philippines and one at Harare International Airport when an Air Zimbabwe MA60 hit five warthogs on take-off.
Myanma Airways now have two ATR72s, an ATR42, three F28s, and three Xian MA-60s for local services.
