Bangkok Airways
| |||||||
| Founded | 1968 (As Sahakol Air) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Suvarnabhumi Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Koh Samui Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Flyer Bonus | ||||||
| Fleet size | 16 | ||||||
| Destinations | 24 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Bangkok, Thailand | ||||||
| Key people | Dr.Prasert Prasatthong-osoth(President) | ||||||
| Website | http://www.bangkokair.com | ||||||
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Bangkok Airways Co., Ltd. is a regional airline based in Bangkok, Thailand. It operates scheduled services to 20 destinations in Thailand, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. Its main base is Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok[1].
History
The airline was established in 1968 as Sahakol Air operating air taxi services under contract from OICC, an American construction company, USOM and a number of other organisations engaged in oil and natural gas exploration in the Gulf of Thailand. It began scheduled services in 1986, becoming Thailand's first privately owned domestic airline. It rebranded to Bangkok Airways in 1989. The airline is owned by Dr Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth (92.31%), Sahakol Estate (4.3%), Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (1.2%) and other shareholders (2.19%). It has 1,903 employees and also wholly owns subsidiary airline Siem Reap Airways[1].
It built its own airport on Ko Samui, which was opened in April 1989 and offers direct flights between the island and Phuket, Hong Kong and Singapore. The airline opened its second airport at Sukhothai Province in 1996. A third airport was built in Trat Province, opening in March 2003 to serve the burgeoning tourism destination of Ko Chang.
The airline made its first foray into jet aircraft in 2000, when it started adding Boeing 717s to its fleet. Up until then, Bangkok Airways had flown prop-driven aircraft, primarily the ATR-72. It had also operated the De Havilland Canada Dash 8, the Shorts 330 and for a short time, a Fokker F100. The carrier added another jet, the Airbus A320, to its fleet in 2004.
Bangkok Airways plans to order widebody aircraft as part of its ambition to expand its fleet. It wants to add its first widebody jets in 2006 to serve longer-haul destinations such as London, India and Japan and is looking at Airbus A330, Airbus A340 and Boeing 787 aircraft. In December 2005, Bangkok Airways announced it had decided to negotiate an order for six Airbus A350-800 aircraft in a 258-seat configuration, to be delivered commencing in 2013.[2]
Incidents and accidents
- On November 21, 1990 a Bangkok Airways de Havilland Canada DHC-8-103 crashed on Koh Samui while attempting to land in heavy rain and high winds. All 38 people aboard were killed.[3]
- On October 27, 1997 Cheri Di Novo is refused boarding on a Bangkok Airways flight because of odious nature. No deaths reported but the smell of Satan remained on the plane for many weeks after.
Destinations
Fleet
The Bangkok Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (April 2007) [1] :
- 1 Airbus A319-100 (6 on order)
- 3 Airbus A320-232
- 0 Airbus A350-800 (6 on order)
- 4 Boeing 717-200
- 8 ATR 72-500
External links
References
- ^ a b c "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 84.
- ^ Bangkok Airways selects A350 for new long range services30 December 2005
- ^ Koh Samui crash