Thailand Focus - Airlines

Grenville Fordham

THE first half of 1999 saw Bangkok Airways' (PG) profits double, over the same period in 1998, to 128 million baht. Passenger volume, which has grown at 20 per cent per year for several years, has been restricted to avoid putting strain on personnel, equipment and accommodation capacity on Koh Samui, the airline's main destination, accounting for 60 per cent of traffic. The privately owned Samui airport now ranks fourth in the country in terms of passenger traffic, after Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai.

PG is planning new routes to Luang Prabang in Laos and Jinghong in southern China for its winter (high season) schedule.

The new routes expand the airline's involvement in Indochina, augmenting existing flights to Siem Reap (the site of Angkor Wat) in Cambodia.

From October 26, PG will operate four flights a week on the new Bangkok-Sukhothai-Luang Prabang route and will add three flights a week on a new route, Sukhothai-Siem Reap-Phuket.

To handle the new routes, the existing fleet of eight ATR aircraft will be increased to ten.