The Malaysian government has released details of a plan to set up a new airline that will fly to regional destinations in the south and east of the country. On Tuesday, prime-minister Najib Razaka and deputy transport minister Aziz Kaprawi both attended the Langkawi Island Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition where the latter gave details about the plan.
Three men have been imprisoned in Myanmar for posting up an image of Buddha with a set of headphones on a Facebook ad. Two Myanmar nationals and one New Zealander each received two-year sentences at a court in Yangon on Tuesday for their roles in posting up the picture on the VGastro Bar’s webpage.
Leading travel review website Skytrax has named Suvarnabhumi Airport as one of the best facilities for its size in the world. Thailand’s principal air gateway came fifth in Skytrax’s annual ranking in the genre of airports with throughputs of between 40 and 50 million passengers a year.
A new Cambodian bus operator has inaugurated luxury services on two routes out of Phnom Penh. City Link Transportation inaugurated routes to Siem Reap and Sihanoukville earlier this month which offer passengers amenities such as massaging seats and seat-back entertainment monitors.
Leading global accommodation website Agoda has named a sleepy town in eastern Thailand as one of its burgeoning hotspots. For the past five years, Agoda has compiled a list of fresh destinations and the Isaan town of Buri Ram has made the grade for the 2015 edition.
Bangkok municipal authorities have instigated a plan to improve a pedestrian route linking two downtown parks. The city’s current assistant-governor says the route linking Lumpini and Benjakiti parks will be upgraded to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
The Southeast Asian arm of Absolute Hotel Services Group is in the process of adding a new property in Vietnam to its portfolio. On 1 April, Eastin Grand Hotels will assume management and branding duties of the Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon.
Provincial authorities in Ranong have released news of a project to upgrade a fishing-boat jetty so that it can accommodate tourist vessels. The governor of the southern Thai province, Suriyan Kanchanasilp, says work on the jetty at Tonson in Ngao Sub-district has already begun and the facility will soon be suitable for international visitors to use.
The South Korean national airline has announced it is to increase its flight frequencies to Nha Trang. A statement released by Korean Air at the end of last week said it would offer four flights a week to the Vietnamese seaside town with effect from 29 April 2015.
Municipal authorities in Luang Prabang will be staging a cultural extravaganza this year to mark the listing of the Laos town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The celebrations will take place between 7 and 9 December and mark the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO designation.
Thailand’s Transport Ministry has taken the first steps in a scheme that will see public transport operators in Bangkok share the same ticketing system. A director with the ministry, Phadet Praditphet, says the initial phase of the project will see the ticket systems of the BTS Skytrain network and the Expressways Authority of Thailand integrated.
The CEO of Kenya Airways has announced the airline will inaugurate a direct service to the Vietnamese capital city. Mbuvi Ngunze says the thrice weekly service from Nairobi to Hanoi will launch on 30 March 2015.
Squadrons of Thai military personnel have been draughted in to help fight the seasonal smog currently covering Chiang Mai. Both the army and the air force have been assisting by sending aircraft up to spray water to disperse the haze.
The operator of Cambodia’s two principal airports announced yesterday that the facilities would soon feature luxury passenger lounges. Cambodia Airports released a statement saying Hong Kong-based Plaza Premium Lounge Management would design and administer the airport lounges.
Thailand officially inaugurated a tourist complaints helpline this week. By calling 1111, international visitors will be patched through to help-desk operators with language proficiency in English as well as Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.
A leading Vietnamese low-cost airline has announced it is to expand frequencies for its Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore flights. A statement issued by Vietjet Air said that services on the route would increase from one to two a day in each direction with effect from 30 May 2015.
A senior director at Vietnam’s Pleiku Airport has announced the facility will close down this weekend to enable a major revamp to take place. Nguyen Trong Hai told reporters that all flights to and from the airport will be cancelled for seven months with effect from 15 March 1015.
A Bangkok taxi-driver who found a bag containing more than four million Japanese yen in his cab has presented it to its owner today. Cabbie Prathuan Muangrung told presenters on a local Bangkok radio station he had picked up a Japanese passenger at the city’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and taken him to Silom.
Myanmar’s aviation bureau has confirmed the country’s newest international airport will open in 2020. The director of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) told reporters in Yangon that Hanthawaddy Airport would open one year later than originally planned as there had been significant delays in the process of tenders for the construction project.
Bangkok’s deputy-governor has announced concerned agencies have all agreed to an extension of the city’s Skytrain to connect the Southern Bus Terminal to the network. Speaking to reporters late last week, Amorn Kitchawengkul said the municipality would now go ahead with a viability study for the extension of the Silom Line as far as Taling Chan.