After taking the train to get to Inle lake I was determined to never see the inside of a Burmese train again! That left 2 options to get to Bagan; a 12 hour bus journey, or a 1 hour flight. Asking around at a few travel agents, the price seems to be fixed at $89 including a $2 fuel surcharge. The choice seemed clear!
Myanmar has quite a few domestic airlines with most of them having part ownership with an international corporation. I’m flying Air Mandaley which gets it’s aircraft and maintenance from France. None of the airlines can fly internationally because they don’t follow IATA safety regulations, but since there is so little air traffic in Myanmar, the risk seems minimal. I think a bigger risk is taking a taxi to the airport to catch your flight!
The terminal in Heho is very basic. There are no baggage belts. Instead, a member of airline staff hand delivers luggage to you. There are no seats assigned to you, just scramble seating like on European low cost airlines. I got a paper ticket that was hand written and copied with carbon paper.
With the tourist economy growing so fast in Myanmar, we may very well see the airline sector growing very fast too in the next five to ten years. Let’s just hope they they put safety first above profit.