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Emirates aims for new
benchmarks in travel comfort
Emirates’ new First Class
private suites offer the ultimate in luxury and comfort.
Dubai based Emirates Airlines recently announced a
major investment to go towards upgrades on all travel classes of its new
Boeing 777 aircraft, the first of which, a Boeing 777-300ER ULR (Ultra
Long Range) aircraft, was delivered to the company last month.
The company’s multi-million dollar investment will see an enhanced
version of its First Class private suits; lie-flat massage seats in
Business Class with more personal space; Economy Class seats with extra
legroom; and the industry’s largest personal TV screens in all classes
across its rapidly expanding Boeing 777 fleet.
Commenting on the move, Emirates President Tim Clark said: “To put the
scale of our investment into perspective - in the next 18 months, we
will spend around AED 180 million (approx. 1,500 million baht) just to
install our enhanced First Class product onboard the brand new aircraft
we are receiving. This figure does not include the enhancements in other
classes of travel, or the retrofit programme. All these investments
illustrate why Emirates continues to be world-class.”
In the three-class configuration, Emirates’ new Boeing 777-300Ers (ULR)
will offer eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in
Business, and 304 seats in Economy; and its 777-200LRs will have eight
First Class private suites, 42 lie-flat seats in Business, and 216 seats
in Economy.
Lukewarm airline response
to Thai NTO’s call for more flights
Representatives from 18 international airlines turned up at a public and private
sector forum in the Thai capital last Thursday to outline solutions for the
current inadequate international flights to Thailand’s key tourist destinations.
Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor for international marketing, Ms
Juthaporn Rerngronasa, said Thailand faced three major problems on air access
into the country. She said there were insufficient flights from Russia, the
Commonwealth of Independent States countries, Scandinavia, Europe, the Middle
East, South Africa, South Asia, North Asia and Australia.
She added the lack of direct international flights between tourism destinations
such as Australia and Krabi, and the shortage of direct flights to Bangkok from
cities with good potential such as Manchester, UK, had hindered tourism growth
potential for Thailand.
Despite the problems pointed out, none of the 18 international airlines
expressed interest in introducing flights on the requested routes. However, a
number confirmed they would add frequencies to Thailand in their winter
schedule. They include: Air Astana (from twice to thrice weekly flights); Royal
Jordanian Airlines (from five weekly flights to one daily flight); and Finnair
(from one flight daily to two).
Thai Airways area director for Thailand, Indochina and Myanmar, Mr. Pichai
Chunganuwad, said instead of holding meeting after meeting about how to tackle
the lack of flights, Thailand should outline a proper tourism calendar
identifying peak tourist periods in each prime tourism destination. He said
airlines could then work out whether it was commercially viable to fly to
certain destinations at the peak period. (TTG)
Troubled southern Thailand gets help from neighboring countries
Aiming to “drum up” tourism, Thailand has entered a deal with Indonesia and
Malaysia to stage an international travel fair in a city that has generated
security concerns.
Indonesia-Malaysia and Thailand, which make up the IMT Growth Triangle
(IMT-GT) countries, will hold an international travel fair in the southern
Thai city of Songkhla from January 11-20 next year.
The travel fair is expected to boost confidence in the region’s tourism
industry which has plummet in the strife-torn southern states due to
religious and factional violence in the last four years.
“This is only one of many programs to be held in the three countries,” said
Thai IMT-GT Joint-Business Council (JBC) chairman Somkiat Anuras, at the end
of the 23rd JCB meeting held in Ipoh, Malaysia recently.
The Songkhla provincial government, added Anuras, will be spending US$1
million to host and promote the fair, which is expected to draw 100,000
international visitors from the three member countries.
In addition to cultural performances from its three member countries, the
travel fair will feature indigenous multi-sports competition common in the
region, including bull and cock fighting, and bird-singing contests.
“We are expecting an increase of up to 30 percent in tourism volume in the
three countries following the travel fair,” added Anuras.
The fair will feature some 120 booths promoting tourism products from
sellers in member countries, half of which will be from Thailand. (eTN)
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