(L to R)
Chaiwat Patimaark, General Manager, Orchid Travel; Prajak Trakoonchuandee, Sales
Executive, Bangkok Airways; Narintorn Sukkaseam, District Sales Manager, Eastern
Thailand, Thai Airways; Ahmed Hazeem Al Balushi, Oman Air District Sales
Manager-Thailand; Nopporn Kanchanamanee, District Sales Manager, Thai Airways;
Piyawan Patimaarak owner of Orchid Travel; Woranan Boonprawes, Reservation Oman
Air Pattaya Office.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Oman Air has opened its only passenger sales agency outside
Bangkok in Pattaya to serve customers in the airline’s second-largest Thai
market.
Orchid Travel on Second Road at Soi 1 in North Pattaya was
chosen as the local agent for the airline. At the opening ceremony Sept. 22,
Oman Air Thailand sales manager Ahmed Hazeem Al Balushi noted that Pattaya is
now a “must visit” destination for most of the carrier’s Thailand-bound
customers.
“Pattaya is basically our second-biggest city now, especially
for Omani nationals,” Al Balushi said. “When they come to Bangkok, they also
must come to Pattaya. So that’s why we chose to open an office here.”
He said the airline has increased flights to Thailand from
just five a week a couple of years ago to nine a week now. There are plans to
further increase that with the ultimate goal of having two flights daily. While
most passengers are still Middle Eastern, the carrier is seeing an increasing
number of European travelers, as it now serves Frankfurt, London, Munich and
Paris. An office in Italy will open soon.
Medical tourism is a major reason many of Oman Air’s
customers are flying to Thailand, Al Balushi said. As many as 60 percent of
Omanis coming to the kingdom are doing so for some type of medical treatment.
He said other major traveler groups are honeymooners,
shoppers and business travelers.
