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Qantas Thai cabin crew celebrate 4th anniversary
To mark Qantas Airways Thai cabin crew 4th anniversary,
Phitaya Phromchanya (4th left), Qantas Airways Cabin Services Administration
Manager, Tidarat Kanchanawat (3rd left), Adecco Consulting Ltd. Deputy
General Manager as well as Qantas and Adecco working personnel recently
presented a cash cheque worth 60,000 baht to Vachirapa Chankajorn (5th
right), of Rong Rian Khong Noo Foundation.
 The
money was made by selling specially produced “Wear Me with Love’
T-shirts. The funds received from Qantas Thai cabin crew will help develop
education of needy students in the rural areas.
>From Bangkok, Qantas Airways currently operates daily flights to
Sydney and London. Each flight has 4 Thai cabin crew providing services to
passengers.
Bangkok to get 100 million baht New Year extravaganza
Visitors to Thailand’s capital city over the New Year
period are set to enjoy a star-studded line-up of singers and actors who
will take place in the nation’s first major New Year extravaganza. The
‘Happy Festival 2004 Bangkok Countdown’, to be held on a 20,000 square
meter site on the Thonburi side of the Rama VIII Bridge on 29-31 December,
will feature one thousand popular singers and actors, and a 15 million baht
firework display partially financed by Japan and the United Kingdom.
Visitors will be treated to a multimedia light and sound
show in the middle of the Chao Phraya River and anyone wishing to chance
their luck will be able to compete for special edition giant dolls.
The festival will also mark the first time in history
when the public will be able to send their New Year’s greetings to His
Majesty the King on cards costing 10 bath each, which will then be displayed
on a giant billboard during the festival before being sent on to HM the
King. All proceeds will go to charity.
The event is being organized by the Interior Ministry in
conjunction with the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA), entertainment
giant Grammy, Matching Entertainment Co. and Samart Mobile.
Free tickets will be available from the Interior
Ministry’s Information Division, the Bang Phlad District Office, the
BMA’s Social Welfare Department, and the customer service divisions of
DTAC shops in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces. Tickets will also be on
sale for 50 baht for adults and 20 baht for children, with the proceeds
going to a charity promoting good citizenship. (TNA)
SWISS incentive program for small and medium sized enterprises
Does your company spend a good deal of money each year on
business travel? If you would like to get some of that money back, why not
team up with Swiss Profit, SWISS’s incentive program for small and medium
sized enterprises.
The program offers attractive incentives on all flights
the SME takes with SWISS at corporate level, regardless of where the ticket
was bought. For more information about Swiss Profit, visit
www.swiss-profit.ch if your company is based in Switzerland or
www.swiss-profit.com if your company is based outside.
MOT urged to accelerate aviation liberalization process
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is urging the Ministry
of Transport (MOT) to accelerate the aviation liberalization process to
accommodate its goal of increasing the number of tourists.
The Thai PM said the ministry had been instructed to
speed up the negotiation on aviation rights, particularly the aviation
liberalization because there was too much delay in the matter. He cited the
liberalization case between Thailand and India as an example. He said the
conclusion had already been reached at the leadership level, but the
negotiation at the officials’ level had delayed the liberalization of
aviation between the two countries.
“We need to adjust working procedures to ensure a faster process
because we expect to double the number of foreign arrivals in the country in
the next 6-7 years. We want to invite them to taste our foods and farm
products. The arrival of more tourists will help increase the nation’s
employment and revenue. We cannot accommodate the increased number of
tourists if we only have Thai Airways International to serve them,”
Thaksin stated. (TNA)
Agents still main travel advisors for corporate
Travel agents are still viewed as the major source of
travel advice as 61 percent of corporate respondents surveyed said they see
their agents as being able to resolve problems and 36 percent were convinced
that their agents provide the most cost-effective deals. The survey was
conducted by Airclaims and BTN Asia-Pacific, a sister publication of TTG
Asia.
The survey also showed that regional travel agents,
suppliers and corporate travel managers expect Asia-Pacific to lead the
growth in passenger traffic over the next decade. Firms in Asia-Pacific are
expected to have at least 16 percent higher budgets than the global average.
(TTG Asia)
Fly cheap with Thai AirAsia
Thai AirAsia, the second budget airline in
the country, said it will operate routes between Bangkok-Chiang Mai,
Bangkok-Hat Yai and Bangkok-Phuket from January 13, 2004 at 990 baht for
single travel. The airline said the price was cheap because of low overhead.
(TTG Asia)
Emirates and GE Engine Services ink US$200 million engine maintenance deal
Emirates Airline signed a letter of intent
on December 10th with GE Engine Services (GEES) on a long-term maintenance
agreement to support the engines that will power the airline’s Airbus
A340-300 aircraft.
The Dubai-based international airline will begin
operating eight leased four-engine A340s in 2004. The letter of intent, with
a potential value of more than $200 million over the life of the agreement,
covers the initial overhaul of the 32 CFM56-5C engines installed on these
aircraft, followed by a nine-year Maintenance Cost Per Hour (MCPHTM)
program.
Emirates’ Chairman, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed
Al-Maktoum, said, “The advantage of this agreement with GE is that
Emirates will be able to efficiently forecast with great accuracy the
long-term operating costs of the engines powering our A340s.”
Under the MCPHTM package, GEES will use its maintenance
network, engineering resources, and program management expertise to maintain
the Emirates fleet of CFM56-5C engines based on a flat rate per engine
flight hour.
The CFM56-5C maintenance work will be conducted at GE’s
full-service facility near the Welsh city of Cardiff, in the United Kingdom.
GEES is a division of GE Aircraft Engines, the world’s
leading manufacturer of jet engines for civil and military aircraft. GEES,
headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA provides comprehensive maintenance
support for GE and non-GE jet engines in service throughout the world.
Indian aviation has significant new takeoff
Air India’s first flight to Shanghai,
AI-348, took off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi
with a full load of passengers bound for Bangkok and Shanghai.
The flights, to be operated on Thursdays and Saturdays,
will provide the fastest connection between Mumbai/New Delhi and Shanghai
currently available via commercial airline networks. Passengers traveling
between India and Shanghai will be able to take a direct flight now instead
of transiting through a Southeast Asian country.
The commencement of services to Shanghai is part of Air-India’s growth
plan, which has seen a doubling of capacity on the India-US sector in the
past one year. A spokesman said while the flights to Shanghai were being
launched initially on a twice-weekly basis, the airline was confident that
the frequency of services would be increased in the near future as traffic
grew between India and Shanghai. (TTG Asia)
Bangkok to redevelop famous tourist districts
Bangkok’s famous Chinatown district is destined for a
new look as part of plans by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s
(BMA) to beautify the capital to promote tourism. Phichai Chaophochapanich,
director of the BMA Town Planning Office, said that next year the office
would launch six beautification projects in order to boost tourist numbers
in the capital.
The first project will involve a revamp of the Klong Lot
area from Dinso Road to the Interior Ministry. The second will see the
revival of the historic area around the Golden Mount, with more convenient
and safer facilities to allow tourists to view historic sites and the
demolition of buildings which spoil the view.
The third project will see an overhaul of the famous Khao
San Road tourist area, from Tha Prachan to Pak Klong Talat. The BMA hopes
that it will improve the historic Rattanakosin area of Bangkok, and make it
look attractive even at night time.
The fourth project involves the beautification of Bang
Khun Thien beach through the construction of wooden walkways, in the hopes
of boosting eco-tourism.
The fifth project will turn the old Arun Amarit Road into
a pedestrian walkway with colored cement, trees and electric lights.
The most ambitious project involves the redevelopment of
the Sampeng area, known as the capital’s Chinatown. Pavements will be
given a new look to allow shoppers to make their purchases in the area’s
warren of alleyways more easily, while the area will also get new lighting
and tap water pipes. (TNA)
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