Room restorations

Novotel Coralia Magic Lagoon

LaSalle Investment Management will be spending 20 million USD renovating the 4-star Karon Villa Phuket Beach Resort on Karon Beach. The resort’s more than 300 rooms will be upgraded to 5-star standards, after which LaSalle will hand over management of the resort to an operator.

1.25 million USD and two years will be spent restoring the 711-room Menam Riverside Hotel in Bangkok. The hotel will get one more floor, a new lobby, three restaurants and refurbished guest rooms.

Renovations of the rooms at the Novotel Central Sukontha are finished. The hotel, located in Hat Yai, spent one million USD redoing the 238 guest rooms, lobbies and restaurants, and adding a Centara Spa.

In March, the Panviman Resort in Koh  Phangan began construction on new deluxe and family cottages, as well as a swimming pool, to be finished soon.

After the Novotel Coralia Magic Lagoon is rebranded as the Sofitel Magic Lagoon in May, it will become the first 5-star property in Khao Lak. It will have 319 rooms, restaurants, swimming pools and a bar. 

Airline updates

In December 2003, Phuket Air purchased two aircraft to add to its fleet of seven aircraft, which will enable the airline to add more routes to its schedule this year. Some new destinations the airline is considering are: Melbourne, Sydney, London, Milan and major cities in Germany, Southern China, Laos and Cambodia.

Starting 1^st May, Thai Airways International (THAI) will begin offering flights to and from Bangkok and Milan in Italy twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays. On 29^th March, flights to and from Bangkok to Bangalore were being offered four times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And on 31^st March, the airline introduced flight services to and from Bangkok and Jihong twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays. The airline is also adding one extra flight to its routes from Bangkok to London and Munich and vice versa. On 1^st February THAI stopped offering services along the Zurich-Geneva route in Switzerland because it has proved unpopular with travellers.

THAI has announced that its new low-cost airline, Nok Air, may begin services in June with two aircraft leased from THAI. Initially, flights will be available from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Hat Yai and Phitsanulok. Customers can book tickets at local 7-Eleven stores, through travel agents and via their mobile phones.

Orient Thai Airlines’ low-fare airline, One-Two-Go, which began operations on 1^st December, will be expanding its services due to the demand for affordable flights in Thailand. The service to and from Bangkok and Chiang Mai will be increased, with flights to Phuket, Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai and Hat Yai being added soon. The airline will be leasing or purchasing more aircraft this year to add to its fleet of two.

PB Air, in order to accommodate the increase of traffic on its domestic and international flights, will be purchasing another aircraft, adding to its existing fleet of two. In January, the airline added a flight service to and from Bangkok and Port Blair in India two times weekly. In April, flights to and from Bangkok and Varanasi, also in India, will be available two or three times a week. The flight schedule from Bangkok to Danang and vice versa will be increased from three flights a week to five. In response to other carriers that have created budget airlines, PB Air has announced its own Diet Jet, which began operations on a trial basis in March. The new low cost airline offer ten seats on the route to and from Bangkok and Krabi.

Air Andaman, which ceased operations in February, has announced that it will resume services on 1^st May. The airline will offer daily direct flights to and from Bangkok and Singapore and a four times weekly service from Bangkok to Singapore with a shop in Phuket. Free champagne will be featured on these flights to celebrate the airline's revival.

Orient Thai Aviation began offering flights to and from Bangkok and Chiang Rai on 2^nd February and flights to and from Bangkok and Hat Yai on 12^th February.

AirAsia

In addition to the route to and from Bangkok and Phuket that was introduced on 3^rd February, Thai AirAsia also began offering services from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Hat Yai and vice versa. Flights to and from Bangkok and Khon Khaen were available 12^th February. On 16^th February, Thai AirAsia offered services to and from Bangkok and Singapore. Daily flights between Bangkok, Udon Thani, Chiang Mai, Korat and Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) began on 28^th March. A second flight to and from Bangkok and Singapore was also add on the same day, due to popular demand.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, began services to Bangkok on 28^th March.

China Eastern Airlines will begin flying from Bangkok to Jinan, in Shandong Province, on 9^th April.