A new carrier code has begun appearing on airport departure and arrival flight displays in Australia: ‘OM’. This is MIAT Mongolian Airlines which is now flying to and from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney on codeshare with Cathay Pacific.

Passengers and freight interline at Hong Kong with MIAT Mongolian’s route to Ulaanbaatar. This operates four times weekly (with an extra flight during the summer peak) and also now carries a CX codeshare indicator.

In the past decade Australian business with Mongolia has grown, including consultancy for resource development which has generated significant business travel.

Mongolia is also seen as a largely untapped leisure destination ex Australia and NZ. For the MICE sector (business tourism) it has incentive reward potential, offering unique experiences.

MIAT Mongolian www.miat.com is based at Ulaanbaatar’s Chinggis Khaan International Airport. It operates a small fleet of B737-700/800 and B767-300 aircraft on Asian and European routes. Founded in 1956, it is the national carrier of Mongolia.

Paul Loo, Cathay’s chief customer and commercial officer, said the new partnership underlined the airline’s commitment to provide its customers with enhanced connectivity to an ever-increasing number of new destinations.

“Ulaanbaatar is quickly making a name for itself as an important business hub, one which we expect to grow on the back of this new agreement.”