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Nok Air celebrates
opening of Udon Thani route
Nok Air and its point of sale provider, 7-Eleven Counter
Service Plus, celebrated the airline’s service to Udon Thani, the province
where ancient civilizations flourished 5,000 years ago, and these days the
gateway to the Mekong region and Laos.
 Celebrating
Nok Air’s flights to Udon Thani are Maneerat Tangthansup, marketing
department manager (2nd left), Onvara Rojanavas, deputy general manager call
service (3rd left), and Prasert Manuphibul, general manager operation office
(4th left), Sehapan Chumsai, Nok Air’s executive vice president marketing
(3rd right), and Pinyot Pibulsonggram, Nok Air’s vice president marketing
(2nd right), at Udon Thani’s Nong Prajak Park.
With the objective of providing travelers with the most
convenient options and services, Nok Air joined with Thailand’s largest
convenience store chain, 7-Eleven and its subsidiary, Counter Service Plus,
to offer an easy option for purchasing Nok Air tickets. This option, along
with the other payment channels Nok Air, including the 1318 call center, Nok
Air websites, and for Siam Commercial Bank’s ATM card holders nationwide,
makes Nok Air one of the most convenient ways to fly.
Nok Air has three daily flights to Udon Thani, as well as daily flights
to Chiang Mai, and Had Yai. Reservations can be made at www.nokair.co.th or
by calling 1318.
Sky Watch: Life’s Little Luxuries
Asia Pacific aviation
news from PATA
* Emirates has introduced safety cards with Braille and
extra large fonts aimed at visually-impaired passengers. “The new safety
cards will offer an extra assurance to the visually impaired that at
Emirates their well-being is as important as that of any other
passenger,” said Emirates Senior Vice President-Service Delivery Terry
Daly.
* In 2005, Finnair will install in its six MD-11s,
business class seats that transform into flat beds and upgraded in-flight
entertainment systems The MD-11s are currently deployed on flights to New
York, Miami, Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. A
fleet of Embraer 170s will soon replace Finnair’s MD-82s, MD-83s and
ATR72s.
* Air New Zealand will name its international fleet
after famous places in New Zealand, starting with its eight B747-400s. The
names chosen so far are Auckland, Bay of Islands, Christchurch, Dunedin,
Kaikoura, Rotorua, Queenstown and Wellington. Each name will be painted
near the nose of the aircraft together with a two meter long image.
Cleaner public toilets for tourists
The Ministry of Public Health, which recently described
public toilets as “the first door to welcome tourists,” pledged a
massive cleanup operation. According to Dr. Vichai Tienthavon, the
director-general of the Department of Health, recent research shows that
public toilets in airports, temples, markets, gas stations, train stations
and other tourist areas are hotbeds of bacteria. He said that dirty
toilets led to the spread of disease, which could damage the country’s
reputation as a tourist destination.
His words were backed by government scientist Sukon
Jiasukun, who described public toilets as “one of the first impressions
made on tourists as they entered the country.” Citing the fact that some
public toilets in US airports even have small television screens, he said
that the state of public toilets reflected a country’s level of
development.
Ministry of Public Health research shows that hygiene
in Thailand’s public toilets is at a ‘medium’ level. Interestingly,
the research also suggests that although men’s toilets are generally
cleaner than women’s, they are considerably smellier. Unfortunately for
some western tourists, who are often appalled by Thai-style squat toilets,
the research also found that over half of the toilet users surveyed
preferred to squat rather than sit.
Ministry of Public Health scientists urged that
measures be taken to ensure that Thailand’s public toilets meet minimum
hygiene standards. (TNA)
Improved roads will bring more tourists to Chiang Mai attractions
The Highways Department opened a new road on August 28
aimed a attracting many more tourists to the popular northern province of
Chiang Mai, while announcing a 3 billion baht program of road improvement
plans for the province.
The new road, which runs from Hang Dong to Chiang Mai
University, in fact represents the expansion of an existing two-lane road
into a major four-lane highway. The province hopes that the road, which
cost over 300 million baht to upgrade, will attract visitors to some of
the province’s newest state-run tourist attractions, including the Night
Safari and the international convention center which is scheduled to host
a global agricultural exhibition. However, the road still lacks adequate
lighting due to a funding shortfall.
Bancha Ekthammasit, a government engineer working on
the project, said that the Highways Department planned to spend an
additional 3 billion baht on the upgrade of roads in the province,
including the expansion of the two-lane roads linking Chiang Mai to Chiang
Rai and Lampang – both important tourist destinations - into four-lane
highways.
The department hopes that by next year, its road
improvement programs will have slashed maximum journey time from any
northern province to Chiang Mai International Airport – slated to become
the region’s next aviation hub - to less than two hours. (TNA)
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