OAG Travel News

Several weeks ago I wrote an article about air service in North Korea.  This week I’ll turn to another remote location and review the air service of Mongolia.

Just the name Mongolia ushers up thoughts of Genghis Khan, nomads, desert landscapes and horizons stretching into infinity.  The most well-known mode of modern transport  through this nearly deserted country is one line of the Trans-Siberian Railway – the Trans-Mongolian Railway.  Deviating north from the main Trans-Siberian line, the Trans-Mongolian travels through Mongolia and re-joins the traditional Beijing to Moscow route.  But, we won’t dwell too long on this romantic travel itinerary – after all, we’re here to look at Mongolia’s air service!

Mongolia – slightly larger than France, Germany and Spain combined – is home to only 2.9 million people.  Nearly one-third of the popluation lives in the capital city of Ulan Bator, also home to Mongolia’s only international airport.  Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) International Airport has two runways – one is asphalt, and the second is grass/dirt.  In fact, of the 44 airports in this vast country, only 12 have paved runways.

The entire country of Mongolia averages less than 20 daily scheduled commercial flights – the same number flights between Denver and Oklahoma City every day.  These flights operate from only 9 of Mongolia’s 44 airports.  Not surprisingly, Ulan Bator accounts for nearly two-thirds of Mongolia’s flights.  From Ulan Bator, passengers can reach nearly as many international destinations as domestic.  Flights to China are the most numerous and include service to Beijing, Hohhot and Tianjin.  In addition, passengers can travel east to Tokyo and Seoul, or west to Moscow.  Eight domestic destinations are served from Ulan Bator.  In fact, only one domestic route – Altai in northwestern Mongolia to Bayankhongor in south-central Mongolia – is the only scheduled commerical flight that does not begin or end in Ulan Bator.

The largest air carrier in terms of flights is Mongolian-based Eznis Airways.  Eznis, which began operations less than two years ago, operates all of the country’s domestic flights.  Translated from Mongolian as easy to fly, Eznis operates its service with three Saab turboprop aircraft.  The second-largest carrier is Mongolian flag-carrier MIAT Mongolian Airlines.  Established in 1956, MIAT today only operates international service from Ulan Bator to Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow and Seoul with three aircraft – two Boeing 737-800s and one Airbus A310-300.  The final Mongolia-based airline is Aero Mongolia.  Aero Mongolia operates four aircraft – all Fokker turboprops – and provides the only scheduled service from Mongolia to Hohhot and Tianjin, China.  Foreign-flag carriers Aeroflot (Moscow), Air China (Beijing) and Korean Air (Seoul) offer the only competitive scheduled air service in Mongolia.

Despite the country’s seemingly small number of flights, the volume of scheduled air service has nearly doubled over the past five years.  But with a heavily nomadic population and an economy primarily based on agriculture and livestock, I wouldn’t predict a massive boom in air travel in the near future. 

Note: Alternate spellings are available for Ulan Bator and Genghis Khan are available; this article uses the most commonly used spellings; some seasonal service may not be reflected.

Source: Flight data from Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes for October 2003 and October 2008; CIA World Factbook; Air Transport Intelligen

Story By: Laura Jackson. 

OAG contributor Laura Jackson was just two weeks old when she took her first flight on Piedmont Airlines.  In junior high school, she developed a business plan for her own airline.  Today she manages strategy and policy issues at one of the world's busiest airports and provides original content and aviation industry analysis for OAG.