Mandalay International Airport

Mandalay International Airport မန္တလေး အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လေဆိပ်
IATA: MDL – ICAO: VYMD
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
Operator	Mitsubishi Corporation, JALUX Inc., SPA Project Management Ltd. (for 30 years bid)
Serves	Mandalay
Location	Tada-U Mandalay Region, Myanmar
Elevation AMSL	300 ft / 91 m
Coordinates	21°42′08″N 095°58′41″E / 21.70222°N 95.97806°E / 21.70222; 95.97806Coordinates: 21°42′08″N 095°58′41″E / 21.70222°N 95.97806°E / 21.70222; 95.97806
Map
MDL Location of airport in Burma
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 17/35 14,003 4,268 Concrete
Statistics (2012)
Domestic Passengers 500,000 International Passengers 80,000

Mandalay International Airport - view from the carpark

Mandalay International Airport (Burmese: မန္တလေး အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လေဆိပ်; (IATA: MDL, ICAO: VYMD)), located 35 km south of Mandalay in Tada-U, is one of only three international airports in Myanmar. Completed in 1999, the airport is the largest and most modern airport in the country, connecting 11 domestic and four international destinations, complete with a 14,000-foot (4267-m) runway which is the longest runway in use in Southeast Asia and capacity to handle up to 3 million passengers a year. It is the main operating base of Golden Myanmar Airlines.^[1]

History

The Mandalay International Airport project was first conceived by the Burmese military government in the mid 1990s as a way to increase overall levels of foreign investment and tourism in Myanmar. With Yangon boasting the only other international airport for the whole country, the new Mandalay airport was regarded as crucial in achieving a planned 10% annual passenger growth. The hope was for Mandalay to become a hub for flights to other major Asian cities, in particular Beijing, Hanoi, Bangkok, Calcutta and Dhaka.^[1]

Construction of the airport began in 1996, and the airport was officially opened in September 2000 at a cost of US$150 million. The project was financed through a long-term loan from the Thai ExIm Bank.

The largest and most modern international airport in Myanmar hasn't met the high expectations in the past; instead it has come to represent the military junta's money-wasting white elephant projects.

Due to the ongoing reforms in Myanmar, the airport experienced an increase in traffic, especially daily flights to Bangkok and to China. Since 2010, domestic passenger traffic through Mandalay has been increasing by 20% every year, while growth in international flights has been up to 60% annually.

On 16 November 2014, a consortium of Mitsubishi Group and an affiliate from Japan Airlines signed a concession agreement with the Myanmar government to operate the airport for 30 years. The joint firm will undertake the operation, rehabilitation and maintenance of airport facilities, including terminal buildings and runway, excluding air traffic control, with the operations scheduled to begin around March 2015. The agreement aims to generate further expansion of domestic and international flights to Mandalay and to increase passenger traffic through the airport.^[2]

Airlines and destinations

Myanmar National Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Mandalay International Airport

Airport facilities

Opened on 17 September 2000, the terminal building can handle 1,000 passenger arrivals and 1,000 passenger departures per hour. The capacity of the airport is estimated to be 3 million passengers per annum, with expansion capacity to more than 15 million.^[3] The site occupies a total area of 25,015 acres (10,123 hectares) and is located in central Myanmar about 21 miles (35 km) south of Mandalay near the town of Tada-U. The journey from the airport to the city center of Mandalay takes approximately an hour by car.^[1][4]

The concrete runway at Mandalay Airport is 14,000 feet (4267 m) long and 200 feet (61 m) wide, and long enough for any size of commercial aircraft to land. The car park accommodates 700 vehicles.^[1][3]

The terminal is fitted with air conditioning, fire protection and emergency power generating systems. It is also equipped with six passenger lifts, one freight lift, three escalators and a baggage handling system. Three out of the six passenger boarding bridges can handle modern Boeing 747-400 aircraft. There is sufficient space for ten aircraft to anchor, and at a rate of 8 minutes per plane, aircraft of any size and make can touch down or take off to any destination abroad. MAGS (Mandalay Airport Ground Services) provides both passenger and cargo aircraft ground services.

Systems incorporated into the airport include VHF and HF SSB transmitters and receivers, a voice communication control system, an automatic terminal information system (ATIS), and an aeronautical fixed telecommunications network. The air traffic control tower is equipped with a variety of radar and navigation systems.

Passenger Facilities

Passenger Facilities: 36 check-in desks, 8 gates, 6 air-bridges, 3 baggage claim belts, 11 short-term parking spaces, 6 long-term parking spaces, Post Office, Bank, Bureau de Change, Restaurant, VIP Lounge, Duty Free Shop, Newsagent/Tobacconists, Travel Agent, Tourist Help Desk, Car Rental.

Operator Changes

Airport operations and maintenance are handled by a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corporation, JALUX Inc., and SPA Project Management Ltd., which won a bid in 2013 to upgrade and operate the airport for 30 years.^[5] The previous operator was Myanmar's Ministry of Transport. In August 2013, the vendor technical team started the inspection of the airport ^[6] to develop an airport Master Plan that included airport services and cargo-handling areas as well as anticipating future needs such as extending the airport’s buildings.

References