Thailand News Today | Thai Airways’ plans to get back in the money

Thai Airways announced it is renting three more planes and hiring 600 more staff this year as part of its restructuring plans.

After cutting costs, selling stock, chasing debts, and distributing plane seats, Thai Airways’ turnover rate in the third quarter of this year is expected to increase. Not only that, the President of the Reorganisation Committee, Piyasawad Amranan, says he expects the company to be back in black within the next two years.

Piyasawad added that Thai Smile Airways, a subsidiary of Thai Airways, has seen an increase in passengers. He said the number of passengers is at about 80% of the pre-Covid days.

The president said Thai Airways needed more personnel, especially ground staff, in response to the increasing number of passengers. So, he made known that they would outsource 600 staff to fill vacancies in the ground service area, cargo department, and kitchen. The number of company staff will be raised to 15,000 next year.

Piyasavat added that Thai Airways had 68 aircraft and would rent another three in preparation for China reopening. He revealed that China would accept flights from Thailand next month, but only 15 flights per week at the moment.

The company is also expecting more travellers from India, and European countries as Thailand approaches its high season from October to December.

Moreover, Thai Airways will resume direct flights from Bangkok to Milan and Bangkok to Oslo, by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, and increase flights from Bangkok to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from four to seven flights per week.

Piyasavat believes Thai Airways will be back in black and on track by 2024 and end its reorganisation plan in 2025.

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As Thailand slowly rises from the ashes of Covid’s economic destruction, more foreign tourists are heading to Pattaya. But, according to the city’s mayor Poramet Ngampichet, the catch is they’re spending less money.

Pattaya’s changing demographics in tourism may have something to do with the spending differences. The mayor said on Tuesday that this year, the million foreign tourists that have arrived in the city have been mostly Indian and Vietnamese, who spend less money than Europeans in Pattaya. Poramet said that five out of six tourists in Pattaya have been Thai this year.

Pattaya has also missed its Chinese tourists, another group who have been known to spend more money than Indian and Vietnamese tourists do. Earlier this month, some food vendors at Pattaya’s floating market said the government should work on bringing back Chinese tourists for this reason.

Poramet noted that many tourist attractions are still operating below full capacity. But he said that as the number of tourists rises, this could change by the year-end, offering more employment opportunities to Thais.

Thailand has drawn 3.3 million foreign tourists between January and July this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. In June, Malaysia beat India as the tourist king of Thailand. While 420,000 tourists flocked to the ‘Land of Smiles’ from Malaysia, 337,000 came from India. The next three countries to send the most visitors to Thailand were Singapore, the UK, and Laos.

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CCTV footage taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning reveals a man stealing 300,000 baht cash from an illegal casino in the Din Daeng area of Bangkok. The man, known as Mac monument, stole the money after gambling away more than one million baht, allegedly.

Mac– raided the gambling den on Soi Pracha Songkhro 8 armed with a gun on Tuesday morning in an attempt to steal back his losses. Sanook reports that Mack slapped the casino’s two owners in the face before robbing the cash at gunpoint.

Popular Thai media channel PPTV has poked fun at officers from Din Daeng Police Station, who claimed they “didn’t know” that the casino existed, despite it being located just 650 metres away from the police station. PPTV even posted a picture of Google maps to prove it.

Although gambling is illegal in Thailand, it is very common. Locals told reporters that the casino has been operating for a long time and believe that Din Daeng police officers were well aware of it.

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau has ordered five Din Daeng police officers to be transferred to work at the Metropolitan Police Division 1, where they can be kept a close eye on until the case is investigated fully by the National Anti-Corruption Committee.

Police are preparing to arrest the thief and robbery charges as well as charges under the Firearms Act. The police have also launched an investigation into the illegally operating casino.

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Thailand is a known beacon for fugitives attempting to slip under the radar. Thai police are worried that when tourist arrivals spike in the high season – between October and February – that the country will also see an influx of foreign criminals. Thai police are working with embassies all over the world to set plans in case foreign crooks slip through the net.

The Land of Smiles has traditionally been one the top source countries for the extradition of felons to the US. All kinds of criminals are found in Thailand – child molesters, rapists, drug traffickers, murderers, money launderers, and people with hair that is obscenely fabulous.

Most criminals get let into Thailand under the guise of “tourism.” If criminals do get through border security, Thailand wants to swiftly deport them back to their home country to face prosecution, said tourism police spokesperson Pol. Maj. Gen. Apichart Suriboonya on Tuesday.

The Royal Thai Police has been working with 18 embassies worldwide to plan for the smooth deportation of crooks. In July, a Chinese man wanted on an Interpol ‘Red Notice’ for trafficking Chinese people across borders to work in call centre gangs in Laos and Cambodia was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

In May, Thai police arrested 46 year old William Dempster, a convicted pedophile who fled Scotland before he was sentenced and fled to Thailand in 2014. After eight years on the run in Thailand, he was finally extradited to the UK to face prosecution.

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Highway officers revealed plastic bags stuck in water pumps caused a flood inside the Pakkret Intersection Tunnel in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok.

Officers from the Nonthaburi Highway District investigated the Pakkret Intersection Tunnel yesterday to determine the cause of the flood on August 21. After five hours, officers reported that many plastic bags and garbage were stuck in the propellers of three water pumps blocking the flow of the waterway.

Officers removed and cleaned the propellers and put them back and the system is now operational once again.

The Deputy Director of the Nonthaburi Highway District, Sophon Paensang, advised the water pumps needed to be changed to work more efficiently.

Sophon said the water pumps have been in use since 2007, they’re old and the automatic system controlling the water pumps has stopped working.

Highway staff have to stay overnight to turn the water pumps on and off when rain is expected. He expects all of the water pumps to be changed next year.

Sophon says the department has a short-term solution in place to deal with future flooding before the water pumps are changed. Officials will visit the tunnel more often, clear garbage, check water pumps, and monitor water levels inside the tunnel via security cameras.

 

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