Richard Wallace appointed as general manager of Rayong Marriott Resort & Spa

Richard Wallace.

Richard Wallace has been appointed opening general manager of the new 206 rooms Rayong Marriott Resort and Spa.

Wallace takes on his new role with 23 years of industry experience and hospitality expertise. He had been long associated with ANA Hotels when they had a presence in Australia prior to joining Marriott International. From there, his experiences in Australia has been of the GM role and as an area director of training for Marriott accounting for some of his past 16 years with Marriott International. In Thailand, he opened the Courtyard by Marriott Hua Hin at Cha Am Beach and his most recent assignment, the 300 room Marriott Executive Apartments Sukhumvit Park Bangkok.

Wallace looks forward to this opportunity of putting Rayong on to the map as an alternate destination for people who are looking for a beachfront holiday or conference in a less chaotic environment. We wish him the best of luck and continued success with his new posting at the new Marriott property.

‘Thai Smile’ approved as name of THAI’s new low-cost carrier, in operation next year

Thai Airways International’s executive board (THAI) meeting this week approved ‘Thai Smile’ as the name of the national flag carrier’s lost-cost airline, set to be in operation in the middle of next year, according to airline president, Piyasvasti Amranand.

‘Thai Wings’ was previously selected but changed, as THAI staff participated in choosing the new name.

Thai Smile will have 11 new aircraft, four of which will be 174-seat Airbus A320s, to be received early next year.

THAI’s low cost business unit managing director, Capt Woraneti Lahprabang, said the airline will use Suvarnabhumi Airport as its main hub to operate flights to provinces such as Chiang Rai, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, and Udon Thani.

The unit’s airline is expected to start making profits in 2013 of Bt5 billion on average, while it is also to consider opening international flights and indicating routes in the same year.

Personnel for the unit will be from THAI and from THAI’s subsidiary companies.

Meanwhile, there has been no progress regarding the setting up of low cost ‘Thai Tiger Airways’, an earlier proposed joint venture of THAI and Singapore’s Tiger Airways. THAI executives will consider the matter again at a later date. (MCOT)

Singapore’s Cedar Holdings sells part of its Shin Corp stake

Singapore’s Cedar Holdings has sold 253.5 million shares or about 7.9 percent of its Shin Corp shares, the Shin Corp-Thai telecom group said in a letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Sixty percent of the shares were sold to Thai investors and 40 percent were sold to Thai NVDR Co., Ltd.

After the sale, Cedar holdings, 49 percent owned by Singapore state-owned firm Temasek Holdings, now holds 1.488 billon shares or 46.44 percent of Shin Corp.

Meanwhile, Aspen Holdings, which is owned by Temasek, holds another 41.68 percent in Shin Corp, told Shin Corp that it has no plan to sell its shares in the company at the moment and it is still confident in the business and management of the company, the letter said.

Cedar Holdings Ltd sold 254 million Shin Corp shares at Bt36 each, for a total worth of Bt9.1 billion.

Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, a government-related corporation, bought Shin Corp, the family business of now fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

The telecommunications firm also owns Thaicom Pcl, founded in 1991 with a 30-year Build-Transfer-Operate concession from Thailand’s Ministry of Transport and Communications to operate the country’s first communications satellite. The concession expires in 2021.

The selling of Thaicom by the Shinawatra family in connection with the Shin Corp deal with the Singapore state-owned investment company was one factor triggering street demonstrations by anti-Thaksin protesters leading to the military coup in Sept 2006 that ousted Thaksin from power. (MCOT)

Sukhothai and Samui Airports win energy conservation awards

Sukhothai and Samui Airports have recently won awards at the Thailand Energy Awards 2011 and the ASEAN Energy Awards 2011 respectively. The distinctions have been bestowed upon both airports in recognition of their commitment to energy conservation and operation efficiency.

Samui Airport.

Privately-owned and operated by Bangkok Airways, both Sukhothai Airport and Samui Airport have won several green awards in the past. For 2011, Sukhothai Airport won the Outstanding Award in Thailand Energy Award 2011’s Energy Conservation category; while Samui Airport also won the 1st Runner-Up of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Best Practice for Energy Efficient Buildings in Tropical Building category from the ASEAN Energy Awards 2011 organized by ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE).

Thailand Energy Award 2011 is organized by the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy, with an aim to show appreciation and recognition to those organizations who put into practice the energy saving policy.

General Komkrich Sriyabhandha, Bangkok Airways’ vice president of airports said, “With our decades-long expertise in running airports, our commitment to lessen illicit impacts from the environment issues is the priority to our airport management and operations. We’re truly honored with these recognitions and will continue doing our best to cherish our airports’ green concept.”

Bangkok Airways has invested in building and maintaining its own privately-operated airports at Samui, Sukhothai, and Trat. These developments provide Thailand with more air transportation hubs to in order to facilitate increasing air traffic volume. For more information, please visit www.bangkokair.com