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Emirates’ first A340-500 commercial flight heads Down Under
Emirates’ remarkable A340-500 aircraft seats 12 First
Class passengers in the world’s first enclosed suites with sliding doors
that can be closed for privacy. The new aircraft also seats 42 customers in
Business and 204 in Economy, and can carry nearly 14 tons of cargo. The new
Emirates jets provide a host of breakthrough benefits for customers in every
cabin
Flights leave Dubai International Airport daily at 10.15
and arrive in Sydney at 07.10 the next day, after a total flying time of
just under 14 hours. The return flight EK 413 takes off from Sydney at
21:50, landing in Dubai at 05:30 the following day.
After reaching Sydney, the new aircraft was demonstrated
to a total of 250 selected Emirates guests in a series of one-hour flights,
first in Canberra and then back to Sydney.
Mae Hong Son to revive WWII airfields for tourists
The northern province of Mae Hong Son is considering
re-opening three World War II-era airfields to cope with growing numbers of
tourists, according to provincial governor Suphot Laowansiri. Under the
proposals, airports will be opened in Pai, Khun Yuam and Mae Sariang
districts at the beginning of next year. Suphot said that the airports would
service small groups of tourists using light aircraft.
The first airport to be opened will be Pai, due to the
district’s enormous tourism potential and the fact that communications
equipment at the airport is still in working order.
On December 6 a fleet of 30 four-seater aircraft, all
containing Thai tourists, used the Pai airport for the first time. Issaret
Phusara, head of the provincial tourism coordination center, said that the
airport was particularly challenging for flying enthusiasts due to its
mountainous location. (TNA)
THAI increases domestic flights for New Year’s holiday
Thai Airways International (THAI) will increase its
flight operations on domestic routes to major tourist destinations for air
travelers during the New Year holiday and switch to larger capacity planes
to serve more passengers.
The flagship carrier will operate additional flights from
December 26, 2003 to January 4, 2004 on domestic routes from Bangkok to
Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Krabi, Hat Yai, and Trang. (TNA)
Tourism to grow 12 percent for 2004
Tourism and Sports Minister Sontaya Khunpluem has
announced the government’s new target of a 12 percent rise in tourist
arrivals next year. Citing the newly-released figures, Sontaya said that
around 720,000 visitors came to Thailand in November 2003, compared to
680,000 in November last year. He also noted that all airlines were now
fully booked, edging up total visitor arrivals for the year as a whole to
over 10 million.
Tourist numbers in 2003 remained below the government’s
initial targets made at the beginning of the year, largely due to the Iraq
war, the SARS crisis and unrest in neighboring countries.
But Sontaya gave assurances that any visitors to Thailand
would be safe, in particular from the possibility of terrorist attack.
“The rise in tourist numbers gives a clear indication that visitors still
have faith in Thailand and want to travel to the Kingdom,” he said.
Asked which groups the government’s tourism marketing
plans would focus on next year, Sontaya said that the emphasis would be on
medium to high income groups with high purchasing power. He added that plans
for next year would be based on locality, with different plans for visitors
from different regions of the globe. (TNA)
HJB Amari Airport celebrates 6th birthday
At the
6th anniversary celebrations of Henry J Beans at the Amari Airport Hotel,
British Airways generously donated two round trip tickets to Sydney, while
Gulf Air donated one return ticket to Hong Kong. Enjoying the celebrations
are (l-r) Khun Sutasinee Aiumsupa, Airport Manager for Quantas British
Airways, lucky winners Mr. Saravat, Vice President Regional Business of
Siemens, Khun Suwanee Lertpawasuthi, THAI-MC Company Ltd and Mr.Marco
Seiler, the hotel’s Executive Assistant Manager.
OX ready to go with shuttle service
Orient Thai Airlines (OX) became the first
airline to operate a low-cost flight in Thailand when it recently launched
its Bangkok-Chiang Mai shuttle service. The flight, priced at 999 baht
(US$25) one way, will operate three times daily until December 25 when it
will be increased to six times daily or more, depending on demand.
OX will use two Boeing 757-200s, each configured with 216
seats. Customers will be allocated a seat, given free soft drinks and there
will be no cancellation fee if passengers re-schedule their flight within
seven days. (TTG Asia)
ASEAN sets up online heritage network
The 10 member countries of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are establishing an online culture
network to teach the world about the region’s cultural diversity and to
boost regional tourism.
Kla Somtrakul, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Culture,
said that the Heritage Network ASEAN had stemmed from the realization of the
region’s enormous cultural diversity, and the desire to see it
disseminated to the world via the Internet. “Such information has never
previously been collected together in this manner. But now this project has
been established, I believe that it will be hugely beneficial in the
dissemination of the region’s culture to the rest of the world,” he
said.
Still under construction, the website www.hnasean.org is
nonetheless, already open to viewing, and visitors can look up information
on ancient artifacts, works of art, archaeological sites and the fine arts.
(TNA)
Air India introduces flights to Frankfurt-Chicago
Air India now flies thrice weekly flights
on the Mumbai-Frankfurt-Chicago sector. These new services will be operated
on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. With the commencement of these
services, Air India will now operate to Frankfurt and Chicago six times a
week.
Air India has significantly enhanced its presence in
Europe and United States in the past year. The airline now operates a daily
service to New York via London; a daily service to Newark via Paris; six
times a week to Chicago - three via London and three via Frankfurt.
Additionally, Air India operates three terminator services to Frankfurt on
Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
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