Lao Airlines ready for AEC
Lao Airlines ready for AEC
National carrier Lao Airlines is ready for the AEC and believes that when it comes into being it will not spark serious competition in air services in the Asean region.
“We continue to develop our services and operations and I think that the AEC launch will encourage other air operators in Asean to cooperate more closely rather than compete with each other,” Lao Airlines President, Dr Somphone Douangdara, said.
“AEC means integration and helping each other. It is not a fight or competition to find the winner,” Dr Somphone said yesterday.
“Today is the high technology generation, so it is hard to compete with each other to find a winner.”
Lao Airlines constantly upgrades its business operations to ensure fast and safe services.
In 2013 the airline had 13 aircraft - four MA60s with 56 seats each, four ATR72-500s and one ATR72-600 with 70 seats each as well as four Airbus 320s with 158 seats each.
Vice President of Lao Airlines, Mr Sengpraseuth Mathouchanh, said on Friday “Now we have 15 aircraft including seven ATRs.”
The company is expanding its fleet because it wants to grow its service network on both local and international routes.
There will be an increasing number of tourists visiting Laos, which will help to promote Laos and attract more investment in the country and this will contribute to economic development, said an airline official.
The network includes international routes to Bangkok and Chiang Mai in Thailand; Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam; Kunming, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Jinghong in China; Siem Reap in Cambodia, and Singapore, as well as Seoul and Busan in the Republic of Korea.
Now the airline has added direct flights from Vientiane to Changzhou in Jiangsu province, China, which began earlier this year. This is the fifth route to China being flown by Lao Airlines.
Its future international routes include Chinese Taipei and Nanning in China, Yangon in Myanmar, and Jakarta in Indonesia.
The number of passengers being carried by Lao Airlines was some 750,887 people in 2014, of which Chinese passengers made up a total of 103,400.
The airline recorded some 530,000 passengers in 2011 and more than 600,000 in 2012. It expects there will be almost 1 million this year.
Lao Airlines attributes the increasing number of passengers to improved services. A report shows there were 411,000 passengers in 2010 and 275,000 in 2006.
Currently Lao Airlines has codeshare agreements with more than 30 other airlines. Under a codeshare agreement two airlines can sell seats on the same flight, but under different flight numbers or codes.
Codeshare agreements let customers book flights through one airline that are actually operated by another, allowing both companies to expand their reach without actually offering any more flights.
The national carrier now has more than 70 ticketing agents in Vientiane and the provinces as well as more than 400 overseas.
Lao Airlines has agreements with Thai Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Bangkok Airways, China Eastern Airlines, Qantas Airways, Silk Air, China Airlines, Korean Airlines and Eva Airways, along with interline agreements with Hahn Air, Aeroflot Russian Airlines, and Heli Air Monaco.
Its domestic flights service the provinces of Luang Prabang, Champassak, Savannakhet, Xieng Khuang, Oudomxay, Bokeo, Huaphan, Attapeu and Luang Namtha.
