PHUKET - regains Dragonair’s vote of confidence

eTN Asia, 20-10-2006

There is positive news for Phuket ahead of the busy end-of-year holiday season.

Only recently, Hong Kong’s Dragonair had opted to stop its flights to Bangkok. In a boost for tourism in Thailand, the same airline has decided to re-launch its services to Phuket on a daily basis with an A320 aircraft starting on December 15, in time for the busy end-of-year holiday season. The airline had suspended flights to Phuket in January 2005 after demand dropped dramatically following the Asian tsunami of late 2004. The new schedule will cater to all travellers, optimizing the time they can spend in both cities. Additionally, the schedule provides convenient connections for long-haul travellers. For Dragonair, the development follows its integration with Cathay Pacific. Airline’s chief executive officer Kenny Tang said that this is the first of a number of routing and product initiatives that will result from the synergies of the integration. Tang said, “Following our integration with Cathay Pacific, and its ability to deliver overseas passengers to the Hong Kong hub, we now believe demand is at a level that can sustain a daily service.” “With Cathay Pacific’s worldwide network to back us up we expect the flights to be popular with travellers from around the globe as well as in Hong Kong,” he added.

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