October 29 2019  |  Airlines & Airports

Yangon International Airport sees a 6.5% increase in nine-month passenger traffic

By Elena Owyong


Myanmar’s Yangon International Airport’s (YIA) passenger traffic in the first nine months of 2019 has recorded a 6.5% increase due to the addition of new routes

Myanmar’s Yangon International Airport’s (YIA) passenger traffic in the first nine months of 2019 has increased to 4.6 million – a 6.5% increase as compared to 4.32 million recorded last year.

Yangon Aerodome Company (YACL), the operator of YIA, attributed the increase to the addition of new routes which are largely from the Chinese market.

In the last 12 months, the airport has added two routes with three new airlines. International passengers contributed to 70% of total air passenger movements from January to September 2019, as compared to 67.5% in the same period in 2018. However, despite the increase, YIA noted that domestic passenger movements declined slightly by 1.7% in the January-September 2019 period compared to a year ago.

According to the airport, China, Thailand and Japan were the top three countries contributing to the increase in the airport’s international passenger movements.

Commenting on the passenger traffic, Ho Chee Tong, Chief Executive Officer of YACL said: “The increase in YIA’s international air traffic underscores the efforts of everyone in Myanmar. YACL will continue to improve safety, efficiencies, and customer service at YIA in support of the state policy for Visa-free and Visa on Arrival services promoting Myanmar’s tourism industry. We have also increased marketing efforts to boost tourism growth.”

YIA is the busiest and largest airport in Myanmar. It currently serves 35 international airlines connecting to 33 cities in 12 countries in Asia and two countries in the Middle East. It has been actively targeting other markets for the expansion of its international routes with the recent addition of IndiGo Airlines, providing daily scheduled flights from Kolkata, India to Yangon, and Kunming Airlines connecting Kunming, China to Yangon.

REGION Asia
Copyright 2024 DutyFree Magazine. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Sitemap