is an
Airline based in
Vientiane ,
Laos . It is the national airline of Laos, operating domestic services to ten destinations and international services to
Cambodia ,
China ,
Thailand and
Vietnam . Its main base is
Wattay International Airport , Vientiane.
1.
The airline was established and started operations in September
1976 as . The name was changed to Lao Airlines in early
2003 . It is wholly owned by the Government of Laos.
Flying mainly to small airfields in mountainous, tropical Laos, the airline acquired a not-too-favourable reputation for safety, several flights being lost over the years. Lately, with better aircraft and airfields, this reputation has been overcome. Reliability is now complying to international standards, at least for
ATR 72 aircraft. This airline has a 60% of share owned by
China Yunnan Airlines .
(RDPL-34132) with
Plumeria livery at
Pakxe (Pakse) Airport,
Laos .]]
As of May
2007 , Lao Airlines operates scheduled flights to the following destinations:
Lao Airlines international schedule Lao Airlines domestic schedule
As of March
2007 the Lao Airlines fleet includes :
At August
2006 the airline also operated
Flight International , 3-9 October 2006 :
In
2003 and
2004 , as it was changing its name and making a bid to upgrade its image, Lao Airlines operated an
Airbus A320 . However since
2005 , that aircraft appears to be leased to another airline,
Air Memphis .
