Bangkok Airways PCL headed by the airline’s President, Mr. Puttipong Prasarttong-osoth, Mr. Prote Setsuwan - Vice President-Marketing and Mr. Varong Israsena Na Ayudhya – Vice President-Sales jointly announces its operating and marketing directions for 2016 at Pinnacle Room, InterContinental Hotel, Bangkok.

Mr. Puttipong Prasarttong-osoth, Bangkok Airways’ President comments, “one of our directions for this year is to support government policy on tourism promotions which we have recently signed an MOU on 2 projects which are “domestic meeting and seminar promotion” and “Thai foods & fruits promotion” as parts of “San Palang Pracharat” campaign to boost Thailand’s tourism.

“To meet the requirement of the 2 projects, we have launched special fare for domestic travel for business meeting & seminar. We also have launched a 4-region inflight menu and used Thai fruits to be served in our lounges as well as onboard.”

“Moreover, we have also responded to government policy to sustain tourism based on special needs by launching special fares for officials, senior citizens and disabled. We have also launched “U fare by Bangkok Airways” for Thailand’s university teachers and students.”

“For 2016, Bangkok Airways will introduce new services which include Chiang Mai – Mae Hong Son, Bangkok – Danang (Vietnam), Samui – Guangzhou, and frequency will be added to our popular sectors such as Bangkok – Phnom Penh from 5 to 6 flight per day, Bangkok – Chiang Mai form 7 to 8 flight per day, Chiang Mai – Samui from 1 to 2 flight per day during high-season period and Samui – Singapore to 2 flight per day.”

“Also, we will increase the number of our codeshare partners which to date Bangkok Airways is in partnership with 20 airlines and we are in a discussing stage with 7-8 Asia-pacific airlines that carry high volume of foreign passengers to Thailand, which we believe the new partnerships will increase the number of tourists to Thailand as well as the number of passengers connecting with Bangkok Airways network.”

“This year, we are expecting to receive 6 – 7 aircraft which include three ATR72-600s and three to four Airbus A319s which will make the total number to 36 aircraft for 2016.”

“Bangkok Airways continually strives to support and be involved in Corporate Social Responsibility activity which is one of our core missions whilst operating our business. To perform a fruitful and sustained Corporate Social Responsibility scheme, Bangkok Airways plans to integrate CSR into the working process (CSR in Process) and will launch “Carbon Footprint” campaign to promote the importance of Greenhouse gas control on a daily basis among our staffs. We also promote “Sustainable Destinations” campaign to preserve the environment of tourist destinations such as coconut tree planting in Samui and “Eco-Friendly Workplace” campaign which is an internal activity to promote Reduce Reuse Recycling motto,” added Mr. Puttipong.

Mr. Prote Setsuwan, Vice President-Marketing comments, “we will be proactive with our marketing directions for the year 2016 focusing on brand recognition, strengthening relationship with domestic and international customers and emphasizing Bangkok Airways’ position as “Asia’s Boutique Airline” by launching a new advertising campaign under “Collect Your Magic Moments with Bangkok Airways” concept to be promoted in Thailand as well as in the Asian market which Yaya – Urassaya will be our presenter for the campaign to represent Bangkok Airways’ commitment to providing full services to offer exceptional travel experience to all of our passengers.”

“We will also focus our Sport Marketing scheme domestically and aboard to create and strengthen brand awareness and connection with sport fans which previously Bangkok Airways has organized Sport activities such as; Asian Tour Golf Tournament titled “Queen’s Cup Bangkok Airways – SAT Samui Golf Tournament for the Seventh year, and Bangkok Airways – Samui Beach Volleyball, etc. This year, Bangkok Airways is an official sponsor for Chiang Rai Unites, Chiang Mai FC and Krabi FC. We are also involved in over 30 sport activities and competitions held within the country and aboard including our latest deal to advertise Bangkok Airways brand in the English Premier League.”

“Bangkok Airways will join forces with our existing partners such as Major Cineplex Group, AIS and TRUE to create more exiting campaigns and trips for our customers. We also seek new partnerships to reach our target customers which this year we will collaborate with K.E.Group ( Crystal Design Center (CDC) and Crystal Park) to promote both brands with marketing promotion activities throughout the year. Bangkok Airways is also incorporate with a number of financial institutions to offer credit card installment plan, special discount, credit card’s point accumulations and prize awards more frequently.

“FlyerBonus - Bangkok Airways’ point accumulation scheme will launch “Ten Years of Magical Journeys” campaign to celebrate 10th anniversary this year to offer monthly prizes to its members. Moreover, we have implemented “mReach” system that allows us to have direct communication to offer specific marketing activity or special offer to specific customer group as well as our partners’ members.”

 “To celebrate and to thank our customers for the occasion of Bangkok Airways’ 48th anniversary, we will launch “48th Celebration” campaign to offer 48,000 special fare tickets which will include domestic fare starting from 480 baht per sector and international fare starting from at 1,480 baht per sector. This special activity will be conducted via e-Commerce channel”, Mr. Prote added.

Mr. Varong Israsena Na Ayudhya – Vice President-Sales comments, “this year, Bangkok Airways will concentrate on countries in South East Asia and North Asia such as Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and China as we foresee that these countries project notable economic growth and high travel demands, also SEA is one of the most popular destinations for European and Americans who are the majority of our customers and are likely to fly with our codeshare and interline partners to connect with our flight in Bangkok. However, we are also interested in other continents such as Europe, the Americas and Africa. Especially, countries in South America and Middle America that project high spending power which apart from having our present at world-class travel fairs like ITB Berlin and World Travel Mart in London consistently, we will appoint General Sales Agent (GSA) in countries in the Latin America as well as South Africa and Greece to represent and promote Bangkok Airways in these areas.

“For domestic sales, we will launch special-fare travel packages for example; “Bin Dee Yu Dee” that includes flight, 4-5 star hotel and premium tour programme for the popular routes such as Samui, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang and Maldives as well as offering special fare on festivity periods. Moreover, we will improve sales system on our e-Commerce channel to be more user-friendly and more effective to increase sales volume in this channel”, added Mr. Varong.