- HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:
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Air Berlin to resume Munich flight to Bangkok, Phuket
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New THAI president unveils four-year plan
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Development planned for Phuket International Airport to welcome more tourists
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UK pitches Thailand as bargain winter long-haul
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Air Berlin to resume Munich
flight to Bangkok, Phuket
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
With temperatures dropping across Europe, discount airline Air
Berlin next month will resume direct flights between Munich and Bangkok
and Phuket after suspending those services this summer.
 Piyamas
Chitmaklam, Air Berlin sales manager for South & Central Thailand, tells
travel agents about the resumed Munich flights.
Airline sales manager for central and southern Thailand Piyamas
Chitmaklam told about 50 travel agents at an Oct. 14 briefing at the
Holiday Inn Pattaya the carrier will offer Wednesday and Saturday
flights to Bangkok with return flights on Thursday and Sunday. There
will be three flights a week between Munich and Phuket, with
Thailand-bound service Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Germany-bound
flights Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Piyamas said the service was restarted to take advantage of larger
numbers of Germans flying to Thailand during the winter months. The
airline will also operate four flights a week between Bangkok and
Dusseldorf, three flights weekly to and from Berlin and one flight
between Berlin and Phuket each week.
The sales manager also reminded travel agents that Air Berlin also
serves Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and the
United Kingdom. It also offers connections into Belgium, Greece,
Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia.
New THAI president unveils four-year plan
Sirima Eamtako,
TTG Asia
Thai Airways International’s (THAI) new president, Piyasvasti Amranand,
unveiled plans to solve the carrier’s financial problems and restore its
image within four years.
Piyasvasti took office last week, taking over the position made vacant
by former president Apinan Sumanaseni in January.
The airline will spend the next two years in a rehabilitation process to
resolve liquidity issues through raising registered capital and reducing
debt.
The airline will also focus on improving products and services through
new aircraft and upgraded in-flight entertainment and services, with the
aim of being one of the top three Asian carriers and top five global
carriers within the next four years.
Meanwhile, THAI announced new flights and increased frequencies for its
winter schedule from October 25 this year to March 27, 2010.
The airline will launch a new direct five-weekly Bangkok-Brisbane flight
and a new thrice-weekly Phuket-Hong Kong service.
Increased frequencies involve: Bangkok-Perth doubling from two to four
flights per week; Bangkok-Los Angeles and Bangkok-Oslo increasing to
daily flights from five-weekly; and Bangkok-Moscow increasing to four
from three flights a week.
Development planned for Phuket International Airport to welcome more tourists
For over 20 mostly upward-bound years Phuket International Airport has welcomed
several millions of tourists from around the world coming to the Andaman coastal
resort of Phuket and nearby provinces. In response to growing numbers of
visitors, public and private agencies involved with the gateway to the Andaman
are planning to enlarge the airport for improved facilities and passenger
comfort.
Phuket International Airport is Thailand’s second largest airport after
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi, both in handling cargo and by welcoming some 6.5 million
tourists yearly, thanks to local hospitality and the region’s world-renowned
tourist attractions.
Due to the increasing number of tourists, Phuket’s airport development project
is now underway, according to Airports of Thailand (AoT).
“Many more airlines have requested landing rights at Phuket International
Airport by the end of 2009. We also expect that the number of tourists will
double by 2013,” said Prathuang Sornkhom, general manager of Phuket
International Airport.
According to AoT, the airport development project is expected to be complete in
2013 and will include building an international passenger terminal for 12.5
million passengers, additional 21 bays, a cargo terminal, a new car park and
walkways and right-of-ways for motorized baggage carts inside the airport, while
renovation of the current passenger terminal, particularly the wash room areas,
will take place at the initial phase.
“We’ll speed up the renovation process on what’s now uncomfortable for
passengers. The lavatories must be satisfactory and clean to impress them.
“We’ll also renovate ceilings and improve other things here at the airport for
improved passenger comfort,” said Prathuang.
Despite the airport’s advantage that passengers do not have to walk very far
between check-in and boarding gates, some visitors may wish to have more
available activities when they have spare hours at this small airport.
However, once its refurbishment is realized, the airport’s better facilities
alone will never charm visitors as much as what they expect most: truly genuine
Thai hospitality. (TNA)
UK pitches Thailand
as bargain winter long-haul
Jonathan Yap, TTG Asia
UK operators and agents are selling Thailand as a bargain winter
long-haul destination as packages remain up to 25 percent cheaper compared to
last year.
Thailand recently ranked top value-for-money destination in the UK Post Office’s
Long Haul Holiday Report, which measured the average cost of a typical holiday
in 16 destinations.
Thailand was named the cheapest destination for the third year running, valued
at “around one-third the cost of Australia, the most expensive country
surveyed.”
UK-based tour operator Hayes & Jarvis claimed savings on flight and hotel costs
meant UK tourists could easily book a one-week winter getaway for under 600
pounds (US$977) per person to Thailand, Mauritius or the Maldives.
The company’s commercial director Niel Alobaidi said, “It is very unusual to see
this continue into the peak winter sun period. It is even more surprising to
find airlines offering lower prices … our recent booking levels have been well
up on the same period in 2008.”
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