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Opinion

Mongolia must open up to avoid aviation embarrassment

New showcase international airport will go to waste without competition

| South Korea
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A MIAT Mongolian Airlines Boeing 737 lands at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.   © Reuters

Mongolia is to get a new international airport next year. The $580 million project, overseen by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, is a large investment for a country of only 3.1 million people and a gross domestic product of just $12 billion.

Yet unless the government liberalizes the country's aviation market and stops coddling state-owned MIAT Mongolian Airlines from competitors such as Air Astana and Turkish Airlines, air traffic is likely to continue to stagnate and the new airport will become a white elephant.

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