Amid a major industry downturn, Myanmar Airways International (MAI) is looking to expand, including adding direct flights to Sri Lanka. MAI executives met with Ambassador-designate of Sri Lanka to Myanmar Dr. Nalin de Silva to discuss the potential for direct routes between Yangon and Colombo, the company said in a press release. Direct routes would eliminate lengthy layovers and reduce flight times to around three hours.

The potential Sri Lanka runs are part of a broader effort from MAI to forge ahead despite an aviation industry largely grounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. “When the going gets tough the tough get going.” MAI CEO Saravanan Ramasamy told Flight Global. “We’re quite okay in terms of flights. We have never stopped flying and now domestic traffic is picking up slowly. Despite having a loss we are trying to cover our variable costs, and have a bit of margin to cover our fixed costs, which is very tough.”

MAI currently has three active and one grounded aircraft. Its domestic affiliate Air KBZ has eight active planes. Despite the ongoing international flight ban, Ramasay told Flight Global that MAI has run around 250 flights between March and July, many of which were relief flights bringing stranded Myanmar citizens home.