Business Round-Up
Myanmar rush for gold is a crowded race
April 1st 2014
Andrew Herdman, the director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, aptly summarized the state of Myamar civil aviation when he spoke at the recent inaugural Myanmar Civil Aviation Development conference. Read More » “Myanmar”, he said, “is an interesting version of a new market, where you have more players than seats.” Both delegates and the several CEOs from Myanmar’s airlines agreed. U Si Thu, the managing director of privately owned Myanmar Airways International (MAI), told delegates “only the fittest will survive in this environment” and added that airlines should be listed as ‘an endangered species” because of the competition newly liberalized Myanmar carriers must mount to build market share. He said the “unstoppable expansion’ of the region’s low-cost carriers into the country as well as the influx of better capitalized full service airlines were daunting. Twenty seven foreign airlines, including eight LCCs, have added Myanmar’s capital, Yangon, to their networks since the national government opened up the country of almost 65 million people to the world in 2012. As a result, the only locally owned Myanmar airline among the top ten carriers operating in the impoverished but mineral rich nation is MAI, with a 10% of market share. Other issues that must be addressed if Myanmar’s civil aviation industry is to expand, conference speakers said, are recruitment and training of cockpit and technical staff, investment in ATC and airport infrastructure and a reduction in local taxes on the already high price of aviation kerosene.
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