Mr. Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, President said, “Our revenues for the first-half of 2011 total around 5.2 billion baht – much better than for the same period in 2010.  We aim to achieve a minimum of 10.6 billion baht in revenue this year –a 29 per cent increase over the 2010 figure of 8.3 billion baht.  The number of passengers we have flown to date since January this year is 1.5 million and we plan to reach 3.1 million by the end of the year.  This will represent a 17 per cent increase over the 2.6 million passenger figure we recorded in 2010.  Around 530,000 of passengers in 2010 were Thai nationals.  This figure is expected to increase this year by some 17 per cent.”

“Our most popular destinations are Samui, Phuket, and Chiang Mai. We have improved our performance over the year especially on the Bangkok-Phuket route where we now fly six flights daily with a cabin factor of 80 per cent. For Bangkok-Chiang Mai, we fly five flights per day with 70 per cent cabin factor. Direct flights from Chiang Mai to Samui are especially popular with an 80 per cent cabin factor.”

“Owing to the global economic downturn last year, our route expansion has been limited. We added only the Bangkok-Sukhothai-Lampang route to our network in 2010. This year, however, we have added Bangkok-Mumbai (India) and Bangkok-Dhaka (Bangladesh).  Both have been well received, especially the Bangkok-Mumbai service, and have enjoyed a good response with a cabin factor of some 70 per cent. We will also add a direct flight from Bangkok to Bengaluru (Bangalore), as a second destination in India after Mumbai. We will fly 5 flights weekly and will increase the frequency to daily flights in December. We expect to achieve a cabin factor for this route of around 60 per cent.

“Bangkok Airways is planning to add three more aircraft to our current fleet within two years. The first of two 144-seat A319s is scheduled to arrive in November 2011 and the second in February 2012. The 162-seat Airbus 320 is expected to arrive in October 2012,” Mr. Puttipong added.

 “We will also emphasise our boutique service in which we have partnered with leading hotels for “Stay in Style Fly Boutique” where our customers will be able to receive either discounted room rates or room upgrade from partnered hotels. We are also using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to get the Bangkok Airways message across to a wider and interactive audience. Today, we have more than 50,000 fans on Facebook and 30,000 on Twitter”

M.L. Nandhika Varavarn, Vice President – Corporate Communications said, “Our boutique service seen in 2011 with the ground-breaking Bangkok-Mumbai and Bangkok-Dhaka routes will receive increasing support and promotion.   Also for the first time in fifteen years we have introduced a new uniform for our frontline staff. Cabin attendants, ground staff, and reservation and ticketing staff will all wear the new blue-toned uniform designed by Polpat Asavaprapa, of “ASAVA.” It is expected that the new uniform will be ready for use by this December. In June, we organised the very successful “Queen’s Cup Bangkok Airways-SAT Samui Golf Tournament 2011” to promote tourism in Koh Samui and demonstrate the island’s suitability as a sports event destination. The island is also the venue for our CSR activity – “11th Samui Art Camp for Kids.

“Later this year, we will also stage the second year of “Samui Island Marathon HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Cup”. We expect to welcome around 3,000 runners this year.