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AirAsia gives its support to the Habitat for Humanity Project in Korat
AirAsia, Southeast Asia’s largest low fare airlines
group is pleased to help the non-governmental organization Habitat for
Humanity. The Singapore-based organization builds and rehabilitates simple
and decent houses for poor families throughout the Asian continent. Habitats
are constructed with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. They are
then sold to partner families at no profit, financed with affordable,
no-interest loans. Habitat for Humanity works thanks to volunteer labor
contributions as well as donations of money and materials. Since 1976,
Habitat has built more than 150,000 houses in more than 90 countries.
From January 2 to 9, a group of 10 to 15 volunteers will
fly on Thai AirAsia from Singapore to Bangkok as well as on AirAsia from
Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. They will then transfer to Korat, 260 km northeast
of Bangkok. Volunteers will start to build houses of concrete blocks, cement
floors and steel roof frames with tiles. HFH Thailand houses consist of two
bedrooms and have optional electric wiring and plumbing. These houses will
replace makeshift structures composed of canvas, cardboard, leaves and wire
mesh walls and patched together with rusted scrap metal and wooden planks.
The AirAsia Group – AirAsia Berhad and Thai AirAsia- is
pleased to sponsor all seats to the HFH delegation as a support to this
wonderful project. Over the years, AirAsia has been involved into numerous
charities and support projects in Southeast Asia as its way to contribute to
create a better world. For information on Habitat for Humanity, please
consult the Association website under www.habitat.org.sg
AirAsia is no stranger to charting milestones throughout
its 2 ฝ year operation. Since its takeover in 2001, AirAsia has
revolutionized air travel in Malaysia to become a leading low fare airline
in South East Asia. It has also innovated air travel to become the first to
offer its guests the “Easy to Book, Easy to Pay, Easy to Fly” concept of
booking their seats online via its multi-lingual website at www.airasia.com,
and the convenience of SMS booking via mobile phones.
AirAsia presently operates domestic and international
daily flights with a fleet of 19 Boeing 737-300s from its hubs in KL
International Airport and Senai International Airport (Johor Bahru) in
Malaysia, and its associated company, Thai AirAsia, operates an additional 6
Boeing 737-300 from Bangkok International Airport.
Malaysia’s Star Cruises buys into Singapore budget carrier Valuair
The world’s third largest cruise operator,
Malaysia’s Star Cruises, announced it had formed an alliance with
Valuair, a low-cost airline based in Singapore. Under the deal, joint
travel packages originating in Singapore will be on offer. Star Cruises
Ltd. will also become Valuair Ltd.’s largest shareholder, the companies
said.
Valuair currently operates flights to Bangkok, Hong
Kong, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, and Perth in Western Australia.
It was the first of three budget carriers to begin operations from
Singapore this year. The others are Singapore Airlines Ltd.-backed Tiger
Airways and Jetstar Asia, which is majority-owned by Australia’s Qantas
Airways Ltd.
Jungle tours destroying environment
Elephant and rafting tours through the Kanchanaburi
jungle are destroying the local environment, villagers in this western
province warned. Around 50 villagers from Sangkhlaburi district, led by
village headman Phaiboon Chuaybamrungwong, met with provincial governor
Chertwit Rittthiprasart to urge him to prevent a tour company from taking
visitors into the Khao Laem National Park.
Phaiboon said that officials had previously placed a
banning order on the tours and had dismantled buildings in the area, but
the company had violated the order and continued to operate.
The villagers warned that the tours, popular with
visitors, were destroying the jungle and local environment. They were told
by the provincial governor that an urgent investigation would be launched
into the affair. (TNA)
Public invited to visit special Royal exhibition at parliament
The parliament is organizing a special exhibition in
honor of a late Thai Queen. Rear Adm. M.C. Pusan Sawadiwat, the deputy
president of the Memorial Foundation of the late Their Majesties King Rama
VII and the Queen, presided over the opening ceremony of the exhibition at
the parliament in Bangkok on December 20.
The exhibition, aimed to pay homage to and honor the
late Queen Rama VII, Her Majesty Queen Rampaipannee, is being held at the
first floor hall of the parliament from 20 December, 2004-21 January,
2005.
Visitors will learn the Royal biography and activities
of the late Queen, and the history of the Thai democracy, which began in
the late King Rama VII, with Her Majesty Queen Rampaipannee being a key
advocate. (TNA)
Cambodian casino encroaches on Thai soil
Thai officials were preparing for urgent negotiations
with Cambodia on December 19 after it became apparent that a casino in the
Cambodian border town of Poi Pet has cleared land and constructed a wall
encroaching on Thai soil.
Col. Kritchawit Thamornphon, commander of the local
security forces on the Sa Kaeow border, this morning investigated the
construction work carried out by the casino in Tambon Pa Rai, where the
casino has built a wall across the Prom Hot canal marking the
Thai-Cambodian border.
Noting that the construction violated an agreement
between the Thai and Cambodian governments signed in the year 2000, Col.
Kritchawit this morning engaged in urgent talks with Maj. Gen. Sok Phiep,
head of the Thai-Cambodian Liaison Office, to ensure the demolition of the
1 foot-thick concrete wall, which extends for a distance of 10 meters.
Describing the talks as ‘friendly’, Col. Kritchawit
said that the Cambodian authorities acknowledged that the construction
work violated bilateral agreements, and would order the Princess Crown
Casino to return the site to its original state.
Representatives from the casino claimed to be unaware
of the agreements in question, and while some of the wall was demolished
this morning, other sectors remained, prompting the Thai side to promise
further talks with the Cambodian authorities.
“Liaison between officials has proceeded well, and
they have been prepared to operate in accordance with the agreements. But
representatives from the casino are half-hearted about the agreements, and
the Cambodian authorities will have to take further action,” Col.
Kritchawit said. (TNA)
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