It's OK to continue using old airplanes in Cambodia because even a Boeing-type airplane can crash in other countries: Mao Ha Savanna's illogic logic?

F’pec and SRP request not to bring old planes for use in Cambodia

Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

During a debate for the approval of the draft law for governing civil aviation on 03 December, Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party MPs pushed the civil aviation industry not to bring in old airplanes for transportation use in Cambodia because a number of these old planes crashed during flights. Soth Sothun, a Funcinpec MP, said that very old airplanes create accidents one after another, and this creates fear among the public since a human life cannot be bought back. He added that during plane crashes, 99% of the passengers died, whereas during car accidents, the chance of survival is higher. SRP MP Sok Pheng said that the planes which crashed were too old and these accidents can affect the renown of Cambodia also. However, Mao Ha Savanna, state secretary of the national civil aviation department, replied that it was not only Cambodian planes which crashed, several other countries also have plane crashes as well, and those planes are even of the Boeing type airplanes, unlike the smaller ones which crashed in Cambodia.

Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam to cooperate in civil aviation

YANGON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- A senior civil aviation officials meeting of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) is underway here to seek enhanced cooperation among the four to develop air transport in the sub-region.

Implementation of agreement on air transport of the CLMV countries is being finalized at the two-day meeting of directors-general of civil aviation cooperation of CLMV which began on Tuesday, according to the Civil Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport which organized the meeting.

Under a multilateral agreement reached in Phnom Penh in April 2005, the CLMV countries are to seek promotion of air travel and cargo as well as tourism services among the four latest members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The multilateral agreement provides for airlines in the CLMV countries to use designated airports in each country and imposes no limit on the number of passengers on flights.

According to earlier reports, Myanmar has reportedly initially set Yangon and Mandalay international airports in the list, while Vietnam nominated seven including those at Hanoi, Ho Chi Ming City and Da Nang, Laos three including those at Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and Cambodia one which is Phnom Penh.

The agreement was first proposed at a meeting in Phnom Penh in 2001 and Myanmar signed bilateral air transport accords with Laos in 1991, with Cambodia in 1995 and with Vietnam in 1996.

So far, there are regular flights to Yangon operated by airlines from three other ASEAN member countries -- Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Thai Air Asia, Phuket Airlines, Silk Air (Singapore) and Malaysian Airline System -- among 14 foreign air carriers that fly Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and the Philippines have been exploring enhanced cooperation in the air sector, negotiating since a few years ago to work out an air services agreement between them, according to air industry sources.

The last CLMV senior aviation officials meeting was held in March 2006 in Vientiane, Laos.