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| TRAVEL & TOURISM |
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Orient Air has landed
On Friday 29 November 96, at 13.40, U-Tapao
Inter-national Airport received a new airline member, Orient Express Air.
History was made as it was the first ever trip that Orient Air made to
U-Tapao. The flight took off from Chiang Mai Inter-national Airport,
destination Bangkok via U-Tapao. Though the event took place quietly without
any opening ceremony, Orient Express Air, close associates and the press
from Pattaya were there to record the event.
One hour to Chiang Mai & 16 minutes to Bangkok!
 This
lucky gentleman will go down in history as being the first ever passenger to
disembark from Orient Express Air at U-Tapao airport.
Orient Express Air is a domestic airline which began operating 16 months ago
with routes to and from Chiang Mai - Ubon Racha-thani, and Chiang Mai - Khon
Kaen. The airline recently received a license to fly to all preferred
desti-nations in the kingdom, although it must take indirect routes to and
from Bangkok. Therefore, Udom Tanti-prasongchai, the Managing Director of
Orient Air, has chosen U-Tapao to be the hub of the company.
“I have to admit that this was not my intention from the start,” Udom told
Pattaya Mail. “Although the monopoly that Thai Airways has gave us no other
choice, I still feel proud about the decisions we were able to make and the
steps we took to get here. It’s a gold mine here.”
“It’s a challenging time in my life,” Udom continued. “Approx. two million
tourists per year visit Pattaya City, plus many thousands of employees from
companies and factories on the Eastern Seaboard. And we can’t forget the
residents in Chonburi and Rayong who will also be able to take advantage of
our service. Its important to let them know that it only takes 16 minutes
from here to Don Muang, and that our introductory rate is only 600 baht for
a one way economy class ticket to Bangkok, and 750 Baht in business class.
It’s cheaper than taking a taxi, plus you don’t have to deal with getting
stuck in Bangkok traffic. Also, it only takes an hour to fly to Chiang Mai,
and if you wish to continue your journey to any other destination in the
North East, we have direct flights to Khon Kaen and Ubon Rachathani. We also
have routes to the south.”
Current and new routes are as follows: Chiang Mai - Udon Thani, Chiang Mai -
Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai - Ubon Rachathani, Chiang Mai - Hat Yai, Chiang Mai -
Surat Thani, Khon Kaen - Ubon, Udon Thani - Ubon, Surat Thani - Hat Yai,
Bangkok - Chiang Mai, Bangkok - Phuket, Bangkok - Utapao, Bangkok - Hat Yai,
Bangkok - Narathiwat, Phuket - Chiang Mai, U-Tapao - Chiang Mai, U-Tapao -
Phuket, and Narathiwat - Hat Yai
Udom promised that Orient Air’s first landing in Utapao has begun a service
that will “continue forever”. Orient Air currently uses Boeing 727s, which
can carry 162 passengers in economy class, and L1011s that carry 49
passengers in business class and 250 in economy class. “This should really
satisfy our passengers for now, and within time when things get a little
better, we promise to come up with more surprises,” Udom hinted.
Udom concluded by stating, “There have had many international airlines using
U-Tapao before, but they couldn’t go any further. That meant passengers
could not continue their flights to other destinations. It is here I see
another fortune, because no one else could do it before. I strongly believe
that having Orient Express here in U-Tapao will bring back those airlines
and probably some more new ones.”
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TAT and Pattaya City train boat operators
The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Pattaya City held a workshop for
commercial boat operators on boat safety. The aim of the seminar was to
help the boat operators in the areas of punctuality, courtesy, safety,
and how this will help both operators and Pattaya’s tourism. 250
commercial and leisure boat owners and operators attended the seminar.
 Sethaphan
Bhuddhani,
TAT Director, Region 3
Mr. Sethaphan Bhuddhani, Director of Tourism for the Third Central
Region, said that commercial boat operators have close contact with
tourists every day and TAT wished to give them assistance in the way of
dealing with tourists’ wants and needs. He went on to say that the boat
operators are, and should continue to be, a boon to Pattaya’s image.
He said that in the past a few operators took advantage of tourists and
this minority spoiled the image of the majority.
Mr. Sethaphan said that the boat operators are doing a very good job now
and the TAT felt it was their duty to help them make their services even
more attractive to tourists.
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