Myanmar regional carrier Air Mandalay is in talks with Embraer about a regional jet order.
According to Air Mandalay chief operating officer Selvakumar, the carrier perceives a need for regional jets, but wants to carry out a study with Embraer to establish a business case.
He says that Embraer will carry out a "proof-of-concept study" in August 2001, which could lead to the carrier taking a jet for a trial period.
It remains open which aircraft type the carrier could choose, although general manager Tan Keak-Huat says that it is looking at 40-70-seaters. Selvakumar says Air Mandalay is not talking to any other manufacturers.
The carrier operates two 70-seat ATR 72-210 turboprops - one owned and one leased from TAT. The leased aircraft will be replaced in July with a 42-seat ATR 42 on a five-year operating lease from the manufacturer, with an additional leased ATR 42 due in October. The three-aircraft fleet will allow more flexibility and higher frequencies.
The carrier, which operates to Chiang Mai, Thailand, as well as domestic destinations, plans to increase its international regional services with flights from Yangon to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and Phuket, Thailand, in August. Weekly frequencies to Chiang Mai will also be increased from three to five.
Fellow Myanmar regional Yangon Airways is also expanding its two-strong ATR 72-210 fleet with the addition of one more aircraft in October, says Aung San, secretary of Yangon's board of directors.
ATR eastern support president Bruno Bousquet says the manufacturer is expecting substantial activity in the Asia-Pacific region this year, with negotiations under way on a two-unit order for ATR 72s from Vietnam Airlines, and the signing of a memorandum of agreement for three ATR42s with an unnamed Bangladeshi airline.
Bousquet adds that negotiations are also under way on an order for two ATR 72-500s from Myanmar Airways, and ATR has won a single additional ATR 42 order from Nepal's Necon Air, which took delivery of its first leased ATR 42 early this year.
Source: Flight International
