Air KBZ, Myanmar’s privately owned domestic carrier and sister airline of Myanmar Airlines International (MAI), is expanding regionally with plans to launch flights between Yangon and Chiang Mai in May.
The ATR72-600 service will start with two flights a week, according to Crystal Aung, assistant manager marketing and sales, Air KBZ.
“We are working on a codeshare agreement with another Myanmar airline company to increase the number of frequencies,” she said.
Aung said the service is targeted at Thai travellers and international travellers visiting Chiang Mai to travel on to Myanmar and vice versa.
Its second destination in the pipeline is Mae Sot in Thailand.
The airline hopes to link up secondary cities in the region. “MAI will continue serving the major destinations and Air KBZ will help to open up access between secondary cities,” she said. Future destinations will include India and China and cities Air KBZ will operate to will be decided at a later stage.
Air KBZ now operates five ATR-500 and two ATR 72-600 aircraft.
“More aircraft will be deployed to support our (domestic and regional) expansion,” she said. Additional aircraft scheduled for delivery next year include one ATR-600 and two CRJs.
