Bangkok Airways plans third airport

The privately-owned Bangkok Airways has proposed to construct a new airport in Chantaburi in the Eastern Seaboard aiming to create a shortcut to the region. When finished, the new airport will be the third to be operated by Thailand’s second largest airline, after Sukhothai and Samui. The plan is yet to be approved by the transport and communications ministry.

The new airport, which proposes to be on a 600-rai plot of land, will facilitate the growing tourism business in far eastern Thailand. 100-200 foreign tourists are expected to visit Chantaburi and Trad provinces each day over the next 5 years, said a Bangkok Airways source. The airport will connect Chantaburi and Trad with Sukhothai, Samui and the rest of the country.

The airline said it would spend up to Baht 350 million in constructing the new airport.

Trad has the potential as being the gateway to southwestern Cambodia where businesses and investments are growing very rapidly.

Y2K bite: Estimation claims Kingdom to lose billions of baht to millennium bug

A recent estimation by the airline industry claims that Thailand will suffer huge income losses from tourism as airlines suspend a number of flights to the Kingdom at the year-end in order to prevent possible effects of the Y2K threat. The flying industry won’t be the only one to suffer; all tourism-related industries and services will feel the effects when several thousand tourists suddenly disappear from the scene.

The national flag carrier, Thai Airways International, is expected to lose hundreds of millions from suspended THAI flights to and from Europe between December 31, 1999, and January 1, 2000, says the estimation. THAI on November 18 announced cancellations of 19 flights to and from European destinations at the turn of the century. It is expected that THAI will lose more than 3,000 passengers in just two days.

THAI would have to reschedule a number of flights on other routes - with losses yet to be accounted for. Thousands more passengers have postponed bookings of late December and early January flights.

Duty-free shops at Bangkok Airport are also expected to lose Baht 6 million a day.

CSS turns back on hundreds of troubled Chrysler units

Chrysler Sales and Service Co has changed its mind on its policy towards about 700 units of Chrysler cars imported by former dealer, Thai-Chrysler Automotive Co, which had been in trouble with creditor banks. All the CBU Chrysler units were impounded by the customs department. CSS will take no action on the cars, though it initially considered a buy-out option.

According to David Howard, chairman, CSS proposed to TCA creditor banks that CSS bring out all the CBU units to sell, for fear that auctions could adversely affect marketing the Chrysler cars in Thailand. CSS would, on the other hand, introduce new Chrysler models to the market in a motor show early next month.

About 200 units of the impounded cars are old model Grand Cherokees, and another 500 units are Neon sedans.

CSS has raised its sales target from 700 units to 1,200 units in 2000 despite the price hike. Grand Cherokee with a 4.7-liter V8 engine will be introduced for the first time in the upcoming motor show.

Viagra still on top after one year

Pfizer’s anti impotency drug, Viagra, has become the leading seller after just one year in the market. The drug currently controls 95% of the market segment since it was introduced in late 1998, the year general manager for Thailand and Burma of Pfizer International, Behan D Zaim, said to be the toughest year during which drug sales fell more than 50%.

The Viagra pill is convenient to take, while its competitors need insertion or injection, said Ms Zaim. Sales of Viagra rapidly grew after the public health ministry lifted restrictions, and Viagra can be prescribed by any doctor, and is available in general drug stores. However, Pfizer netted only Baht 50 million to Baht 60 million from Viagra sales in Thailand - below their expectations - Ms Zaim said.

Recent research by Pfizer found that more than 3 million Thai males aged 40-70 years have suffered from the erectile dysfunction syndrome, and only 1% to 2% of them were treated properly.

Internet newcomer to quickly expand into provinces

Jasmine Internet, the latest company to join the Internet service market, has come up with an aggressive expansion plan to cover most of the country’s 76 provinces in 2000, to utilize the huge telephone network the group owns. Jasmine last month bought Infonews Internet from ailing Wattachak with high hopes to spur sales of its 1.5 million telephone lines in the provinces under Thai Telephone and Telecommunications Plc.

Somsak Pattana-anek, an executive director, said Jasmine would also expand its international connecting bandwidth to 8 megabytes per second before the end of this year, and will further increase to 16 Mbps early next year. The connectivity will be maximized to 45 Mbps within 2000, while connecting phone lines will be increased from currently 600 lines to 2,500 lines, Somsak said.

Jasmine Group also owns a Vsat network through Acument, a subsidiary, and owns a synchronous digital hierarchy hi-speed communications network through Smart Highway Co.

The group believes its huge telecommunication networks will enhance JI Net connecting quality. Shin Corp’s CS Internet said its network already cover 75 provinces.

Hotel industry to set own standards in region

Hoteliers in Southeast Asia are in an advanced stage towards setting their own standards in the industry, which could be much different from the ones set by the West. Citing climatic differences, for instance, hoteliers said standardization criteria set by the West were not practical, and in some cases were obsolete. Management of Asian hotels will gather in Singapore early this month to discuss the matter.

According to Prakit Chinamornpong, secretary-general of the Thai Hotels Association, about a dozen representatives from THA, airlines, travel agencies and academics from Thailand will participate in the conference. The Thai side has proposed a standardization scheme for meetings of the Asia Hotel & Restaurant Association held recently in Bali, Indonesia, Prakit said.

Some of the changes included: Low-priced packages of airfares and hotel rooms are planned under a ‘Hotel Plus’, and ‘Airline Plus’ cooperation among tourism industries in the region. Airfare for flights between capital cities around Southeast Asia could be as low as US$90, and a hotel room at US$60. THAI, Garuda, Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines System, and Royal Brunei Air, will all participate in the ‘Airline Plus’ campaign.

Premium whiskies to adjust to new environment

Distillers of major premium scotches are set to make an about face on their products to adapt to a new marketing environment after sales of the whiskies sharply fell during the first 6 months this year. Johnnie Walker, both Black and Red Labels, would soon come out with a new look, aiming to catch the eyes of those in the low to middle income markets. Chivas Regal is also set to make changes, industry sources said.

Premium whiskies, which once conquered the Thai market, have lost a huge market stake to cheaper scotches, especially the so-called ‘secondary whiskies’, which sell for about Baht 200 a bottle. The financial crisis changed the behavior of whisky drinkers, as many of them turned to ‘white whisky’ - which includes Vodka - as an alternative, the sources said.

Premium whiskies controlled 60% of the market 4-5 years ago before falling to 19% in 1998, one year after the financial crash in Thailand. The market share of all premium scotches fell further to 13.5% in the first 6 months this year. Standard whiskies currently control about 11.5% of the market, while secondary whiskies take the rest.

Sony Capital opens Thai operation

Sony Singapore recently started new business in the Kingdom - under the name Sony Capital (Thailand) - in which Sony Thai has been the clear leader in the electronics consuming market. Shinsuke Yoshida, managing director of Sony Thai Co, said though the Thai subsidiary has been registered since early this year, the service was not kick-started until recently.

With short-term funds by Sony Capital, Sony operations here can enjoy financial support from their Japanese parent. Because of the fact that Sony Capital had been assigned to be the financial support center, and that it had no other profit making purposes, Sony operations could enjoy short-term loans with specially low interest rates, he said.

Sony’s financial arm is also the group’s ‘bank’ which provides a higher deposit rate.

There are currently 6 companies in Sony Group in Thailand.

Software Park gets boost

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment is drawing up a master plan to accelerate the development of the government-sponsored Software Park over the next 5-10 years, and the plan will be submitted to the cabinet for approval within one month. From next year, software exports will be increased to Baht 300 million a year.

According to Science, Technology and Environment Minister Athit Urairat, the cabinet will be asked to allocate Baht 700 million in fiscal budget to support the development plan, which will be concrete, and practical. Under the new development plan, the space of Software Park will be expanded to 17,000 square meters, from 14,000 square meters, to facilitate more developers.

There are currently 20 software companies in the Software Park and 20 more are expected to go there in the middle of 2000. The Park is designed to house up to 100 software companies when the construction is completed.

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Updated by Boosiri Suansuk