BANGKOK, 2015-10-13 — /Travel PR News/ — The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is pleased to announce that Bangkok Airways has joined PATA as its newest Aviation member.
PATA CEO Mario Hardy said, “PATA has a special relationship with Thailand, having moved its headquarters to Bangkok in 1998. That is why we are especially pleased to welcome Bangkok Airways as our newest Aviation member. We look forward to working with them to help build their business, network, people, brand, and insights through our various activities and initiatives.”
Bangkok Airways first began air transportation services in 1968—established as “Sahakol Air”, it became the first private aviation company in Thailand. In order to fulfill the increasing demands for air transportation, Bangkok Airways officially began its operations in 1986 as the country’s first privately-owned domestic airline; initially offering scheduled flights from Bangkok to Krabi, Korat, and Surin.
Presently, Bangkok Airways has obtained permits to operate scheduled flights over 20 different major routes—covering nearly all major resort destinations in Thailand. Additionally, the airline has also obtained permits to fly internationally to Myanmar, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, India, Bangladesh and Maldives. Bangkok Airways has also invested in building and maintaining its own privately-operated airports at Samui, Sukhothai, and Trat. These developments provide Thailand with more air transportation hubs to in order to facilitate increasing air traffic volume.
“Bangkok Airways is proud to be a member of PATA who actively acts as the leading voice and authority on travel and tourism representing the public and private sector in Asia Pacific”, commented Capt. Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth – President of Bangkok Airways PCL.
According to PATA, international visitor arrivals (IVAs) to Thailand from source markets where Bangkok Airways operates, excluding Maldives, totalled 5.4 million during the first 8 months of 2015, 27% of the total IVAs year to date. In addition, PATA forecasts that IVAs from the same source markets to Thailand will reach the 11.4 million mark by 2019.
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About PATA
Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for profit association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising 87 government, state and city tourism bodies, 25 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 59 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 43 local PATA chapters worldwide. The chapters organise travel industry training and business development events. Their grassroots activism underpins PATA’s membership of the Global Travel Association Coalition (GTAC), which includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members’ desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA’s Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing, Sydney, and London. Visit www.PATA.org.
Media Contact:
PATA
Paul Pruangkarn
Manager – Communications
Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 658 2000
E-mail: Communications@PATA.org
SOURCE: Pacific Asia Travel Association