Singapore’s United Overseas Land Limited (UOL) has awarded the management contract for its 156-room Garden Plaza Park Royal Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City and the 359-room Hotel Equatorial Yangon to Accor. The agreement sees the Garden Plaza rebranded as the Novotel Garden Plaza Saigon while the Equatorial Yangon becomes the Sofitel Plaza Yangon. According to Accor, the deal complements the Novotel Mandalay in Myanmar with a gateway property in Yangon. It also brings the number of Accor properties in Vietnam to six. The rebrands took effect on 1st July.

Bangkok Airways has confirmed it will offer services to Luang Prabang in Laos and Jinghong in China for its winter schedule beginning in October 2001. Bangkok Airway’s confirmed the airline has received permission from the Yunnan government to operate three flights a week flying Bangkok-Chiang Mai-Jinghong. The service is scheduled to take off on October 18 using 70-seater ATR 72 although fare details have yet to be finalised. On their part, the Yunnan authorites have agreed to provide visas on arrival exclusively for Bangkok Airways passengers. The bulk of the passengers are expected to be Thais and Chinese residing in Thailand. Bangkok Airways will also start a three times a week Bangkok-Sukhothai-Luang Prabang service on October 28, also using ATR 72s.

A code-share contract for the Danang-Bangkok service was signed between Vietnam Airlines and Thai Airways International on 27 September. The new deal will enable Vietnam Airlines to add three weekly flights to the three currently operated by Thai Airways. The central airport is on the brink of a surge in activity, with several international airlines now seeking to operate direct flights from Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Kunming. The airlines made their applications following the success of the Thai Airways Bangkok-Danang service and the Hong Kong to Danang flights launched by Pacific Airlines in April this year. Meanwhile, Korean Air has finalized its plans for a direct service between Seoul and Danang. The Seoul-based airline said that if plans go ahead there will be two or three weekly flights between the Korean capital and Danang operating with Airbus 320. The service could bring 43,000 visitors from Seoul to Danang every year according to Korean Air. Vietnam Airlines has also expanded its domestic flight network with the number of direct flights to Danang increasing to four daily flights from Ho Chi Minh City and to three daily flights from Hanoi.