Air Bagan to suspend international flights for three months

by Nam Davies

Wednesday, 11 June 2008 19:56

New Delhi – Air Bagan will suspend its Rangoon-Bangkok flight for three months as of June 13, according to aviation industry sources. In an advisory sent to ticket reservation offices, Air Bagan a private airline owned by a business tycoon close to the military junta, has communicated that the flight will be suspended until September. No official reason was given. "They informed us last week that this flight will be suspended from June 13 to September. We have surrendered the tickets in our hand," Thura, Ticketing Manager of 'Nice Fare' travel agency told Mizzima by telephone. Air Bagan flies its Rangoon-Bangkok-Rangoon route twice a week every Monday and Friday and uses Airbus A 310-200 aircrafts. The tickets bought will be fully refunded and all the tickets reserved for the Bangkok-Rangoon flight will be transferred to the state owned 'Myanmar Airways International' (MAI). The flight has been suspended due to the significant decline in the number of travelers visiting Burma, possibly due to increased restrictions on issuing visas to foreigners and the US economic sanction imposed on the airline which has made it difficult in procuring spare parts for its aircrafts among other limitations, Air Bagan Ltd. sources said. The mass demonstration led by Buddhist monks, the biggest in nearly two decades occurred in Burma's big cities and troops opened fire on the protesters in September 2007. The regime has tightened visa issuance to foreign travellers since then. It has only increased after Cyclone Nargis lashed Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon division in early May. Air Bagan Ltd. is owned by Tay Za who is close to the military brass including junta supremo Snr. Gen. Than Shwe's family. The US imposed sanctions froze bank accounts of 25 top Burmese generals of the regime and its 12 crony businessmen on October 19, 2007. Tay Za is included in this list. A few days after the sanction was imposed, Air Bagan had to suspend its Rangoon-Singapore- Rangoon flight. Similarly, another private airline 'Air Mandalay' suspended its Rangoon-Chiang Mai-Rangoon flight from June 7 to August 7. "The airline did not inform us in detail. It just said that the flight would be suspended until August 7," Rangoon based Air Mandalay staff, who wished to be anonymous said. "I think it is due to the declining occupancy rate on these flights unlike before," he added. Besides the private airlines owned by the Burmese tycoon, foreign airlines are also reducing the frequency of their flights to Burma.      Air Bagan's flights park in Rangoon international airport. File photo: Mizzima < Prev   Next >