Myanmar Airways International Keeps Flying a 12-Aircraft Fleet Through Civil War, Despite Thin Routes and Deserted Mandalay Airport
Why It MattersThe carrier's survival on an aging, thin-route fleet suggests conflict-hit aviation markets contract and become fragile without collapsing, shifting traffic toward the few operators that can keep flying.
Myanmar Airways International (MAI), the privately owned full-service carrier based in Yangon with a second hub at Mandalay, continues to operate despite Myanmar's civil war. Since 2021 the country's airline industry has contracted and become more fragile and politically and strategically constrained, particularly in its domestic network, but it has not collapsed. MAI is separate from state-owned Myanmar National Airlines (MNA), which operates eight ATR-72s and two Boeing 737-800s, of which four ATRs and one Boeing are listed as parked.
MAI's mainline fleet totals 12 aircraft, according to Planespotters.net: three ATR-72s (average age about nine years, 68 seats), six A319s (about 20 years, 113-140 seats), two A320s (about 16 years, 170 seats) and one cargo-configured A321 (22 years). The average fleet age is 16.8 years. The newer A319 configuration has eight business and 132 economy seats, while older layouts have eight or ten business seats and 105 or 120 economy seats. MAI flies daily A319 services to both Bangkok Don Mueang and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.
A traveller who flew MAI between Bangkok and Mandalay in late September found that the airline's website would not accept MasterCard or VISA cards issued by US and UK banks, so the tickets were bought through Booking.com, which was partnering with GoToGate. Both flights were retimed by more than an hour a week or two ahead but departed at the rescheduled times, and the return flight booked as an Airbus A319 was swapped for an ATR-72 turboprop.
In early September the People's Defence Force (PDF), the main opposition group fighting the ruling military junta, attacked the military side of Mandalay Airport with drones for the first time, releasing footage of strikes on several junta Yak-130 jet trainer/light attack aircraft, with unclear results. The airport was operating normally about three weeks later, though at peak hours the terminal was largely deserted: the power briefly went out during check-in until the backup system started, and only about a third of shops were open. Flights to Bagan Airport were suspended during the visit, which the traveller was told was due to a national shortage of aviation fuel, though he could not confirm it. The US Department of State advises against travel to Burma for any reason due to armed conflict, unrest, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, poor health infrastructure, landmines and unexploded ordnance, and crime.
