Bangkok Airways is a regional airline based in Bangkok,
Thailand. It operates scheduled domestic services and international
services to Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong), Japan, Laos, Myanmar
and Singapore. Its main base is Bangkok International Airport, with
privately held airports in Ko Samui, Sukhothai Province and Trat
History
The airline was established in 1968 as Sahakol Air operating air taxi
services under contract from OICC, an American construction company,
USOM and a number of other organisations engaged in oil and natural
gas exploration in the Gulf of Thailand. It began scheduled services
in 1986 and changed its name to Bangkok Airways in 1989.
The airline is owned by Dr Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth (77.04%),
Sahakol Estate (11.72%), Narumol Jainaknan (7.67%), Bangkok Dusit
Medical Services (3.28%) and other shareholders (0.29%). It also
wholly owns subsidiary airline Siem Reap Airways, which has domestic
operations in Cambodia between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
It built its own airport on Ko Samui, which was opened in April
1989 and offers direct flights between the island and Phuket, Hong
Kong and Singapore. The airline opened its second airport at Sukhothai
in 1996. A third airport was built in Trat Province, opening in
March 2003 to serve the burgeoning tourism destination of Ko Chang.
The airline made its first foray into jet aircraft in 2000, when
it started adding Boeing 717s to its fleet. Up until then, Bangkok
Airways had flown prop-driven aircraft, primarily the ATR-72. It
had also operated the De Havilland Canada Dash 8, the Shorts 330
and for a short time, a Fokker 100. The carrier added another jet,
the Airbus A320, to its fleet in 2004.
Bangkok Airways plans to order widebody aircraft as part of its
ambition to expand its fleet. It wants to add its first widebody
jets in 2006 to serve longer-haul destinations such as London, India
and Japan and is looking at Airbus A330, Airbus A340 and Boeing
767 aircraft.
In December 2005, Bangkok Airways announced it had decided to negotiate
an order for six Airbus A350-800 aircraft in a 258-seat configuration,
to be delivered commencing in 2012.
Incidents and accidents
On November 21, 1990 a Bangkok Airways de Havilland Canada DHC-8-103
crashed on Koh Samui while attempting to land in heavy rain and
high winds. All 38 people aboard were killed.
In October 2001, a Bangkok Airways ATR-72 (HS-PGC), ran off the
runway on landing in bad weather at Siem Reap International Airport
in Cambodia, closing the airport for two days. There were no injuries.
Services
Bangkok Airways offers the following services, according to its
Winter Timetable, October 30, 2005-March 25, 2006:
Domestic
Bangkok-Chiang Mai-Bangkok
Bangkok-Ko Samui-Bangkok
Bangkok-Phuket-Bangkok
Bangkok-Sukhothai Province-Bangkok
Bangkok-Trat Province-Bangkok
Chiang Mai-Ko Samui-Chiang
Mai
Chiang Mai-Sukhothai
Province-Chiang Mai
Ko Samui-Phuket-Ko Samui
Ko Samui-U-tapao-Samui
Phuket-U-Tapao-Phuket
International
Bangkok-Guilin-Bangkok
Bangkok-Hangzhou-Bangkok
Bangkok-Hiroshima-Bangkok
Bangkok-Jinghong-Bangkok-Chiang Mai
Bangkok-Luang Prabang-Bangkok
Bangkok-Phnom Penh-Bangkok
Bangkok-Shenzhen-Bangkok
Bangkok-Siem Reap-Bangkok
Bangkok-Xian-Bangkok
Bangkok-Yangon-Bangkok
Bangkok-Zhengzhou-Bangkok
Ko Samui-Hong Kong-Ko Samui
Ko Samui-Singapore-Ko Samui
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