MYANMAR Airways International (MAI) signed last Friday an MoU to set up Myanmar Airways International Japan with Hama Inc, a Japanese company that handles a range of businesses including tours and travel.
Aye Mra Tha, marketing and public relations manager for MAI, said the collaboration was mainly to attract the increasing number of Japanese travellers to Myanmar.
“Under this agreement, we will open an office in Osaka and another in Tokyo later. Those offices will offer different services (from MAI in Myanmar) such as charter flights to Myanmar and ticketing,” she elaborated.
Aye Mra Tha added: “We also expect to launch direct flights between Yangon and Tokyo by June this year. So this agreement would also be aiming to (support and encourage plans for more) daily scheduled Japan-Myanmar flights.”
MAI’s direct services to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh would make it convenient for Japanese travellers coming to Myanmar to also swing by Cambodia.
MAI currently operates only charter flights to Japan. Other destinations in its network include Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou, Gaya, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
Japanese visitors to Myanmar numbered 66,772 last year, making it the second largest Asian source market after Thailand (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 14, 2014).
