Bangkok Airways to kick off direct flights between Yangon and Phuket

Bangkok Airways is looking to kick off direct flights between Yangon and Phuket this November. This according to Bangkok Airways’ regional airline vice president, Varong Israsena.

Myanmar National Airlines started operating a direct flight between Yangon and Phuket last month and are looking to increase frequency of the flights from Myanmar’s largest city to Phuket.

“I see great potential in Myanmar. If we didn’t see any potential growth in business here we wouldn’t be here. The travel trend in Myanmar is just rising as the country’s GDP registers impressive growth. There will be more jobs available for Myanmar people and more will be travelling to Thailand,” Mr. Varong said.

The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism in Myanmar and Bangkok Airways are also discussing direct flights between Cambodia’s Angkor and the ancient site of Bagan in Myanmar, but the deal fell through because authorities would not accept the flight stopping over in Bangkok.

Recently Bangkok Airways began operating flights from Yangon to Bangkok, Mandalay to Bangkok, Naypyitaw to Bangkok, and Yangon to Chiang Mai.

Bangkok Airways is cooperating with the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) to promote business travel from the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) to Thailand’s five key regions: Bangkok, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Pattaya and Chiang Mai.

According to the TCEB, the number of business event travellers from CLMV countries increased by up to 24pc to 49,270 in 2017 from 39,723 in 2016. Myanmar travellers rose 19.4 percent in 2017 compared with the previous year.

“This campaign is for Bangkok Airways but if they fly with another airline to Bangkok we can support that too. TCEB supports business travel to Thailand, so I hope there would be more Myanmar business people who take advantage of it,” said Puripan Bunnag, director of TCEB.

SOURCE: mmtimes.com