Phuket to Singapore for B1,838; Thai AirAsia Airbus at Changi Airport, Singapore. - Photo by Terence Ong.

Travellers to and from Phuket have three more days to book special cheap flights with AirAsia during the period from August 9 to November 15.

People booking travelling during that period and booking before August 2 can get one-way flights from Phuket to Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Udon Thani for B990, Jakarta for B1,590 and Singapore for B1,838.

The flights are part of a network-wide promotion by AirAsia that ends on August 1. For details, see here.

Thai Airways International is also trying to get in on the discount game, offering a two-for-one deal during August. The deal, titled “Buy 1, Get 1 Free for Your Mom” is, the airline explains, “part of the ‘Love for the Nation’s Mother’ project that the Government initiated to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s Birthday” (which falls on August 12).

The deal applies only to round-trip tickets in economy class. This gives a an effective price of B4,500 per return ticket Phuket-Bangkok-Phuket or vice-versa. Oddly, the deal does not appear to be listed on the airline’s website.  Not yet, at any rate, so you may need to visit a ticketing office if you and Mom plan to take advantage of it.

In any case, Phuket Observer is more impressed with the AirAsia deal, which works out at B1,980 return. Even Nok Air, Thai’s budget offspring, beats the parent, with fares in August ranging from B1,300 to B1,800 each way, or around B3,000 return.

Thai’s only winning argument is the frequency of its Phuket-Bangkok service, which makes it a lot easier to get convenient connections via Bangkok to elsewhere in Thailand, or the world.

But it must be hard being the flag carrier in these days of budget airlines.

The shut-down is pretty much all-encompassing. The airline warns it includes service online, at AirAsia sales offices and counters, and through the call centre.

Travellers are therefore “strongly encouraged” to make bookings today or tomorrow to “avoid disappointment”.

Flying during the shut-down will be rather more tedious than normal. For a start, the entire check-in procedure will be done without benefit of computers, so travellers are advised to check in at least three hours before departure to avoid missing their flights.

Passengers will not  be able to self check-in – through the web, by mobile phone or at the kiosks – or manage bookings online. The self check-in service was suspended today (July 7).

In addition, your plastic won’t work. AirAsia will be accepting cash only for purchase of any ancillary products, including excess baggage fees, at the check-in counters during the shut-down.

The upside of all this, the airline says, is that the new system, once up and running, will “a huge improvement” on the current booking system, and will allow almost a million flight bookings to be made per day.

Kathleen Tan, the airline’s Regional Head of Commercial, said that “guests” (ie, passengers) can expect “countless benefits” as a result, though in the event, she counted only one: “savings that will come as a result of the more efficient operational processes”. Does that mean cheaper flights? We’re not sure.

AirAsia’s website is here. The notice about the booking system upgrade is here.

Qatar Airways is on a big expansion drive.

Qatar Airways is planning to launch daily flights to Phuket from October 11, one of six destinations it says are “underserved” from the Middle East.

The others are Budapest, Bucharest, Brussels, Nice and Hanoi. The Phuket flights will come in via Kuala Lumpur. The Hanoi route will go four times a week via Bangkok.

The six markets, said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, are “excellent opportunities for us to tap into. We spend a lot of time diligently analysing new route opportunities and I am pleased to say that [these routes] will not only open up new markets, but also strengthen our network strategy over our Doha hub.”

The airline is on an expansion drive that it hopes will see it serving 120 destinations worldwide by 2013, using a fleet of 120 aircraft, including five double-deck Airbus A380 ‘super jumbos’, which are currently on order.

Dawn breaks over the Mekong at Nong Khai, close to Udon Thani, with Laos on the far bank. - Photo (c) by Alasdair Forbes.

AirAsia, which recently set up a regional hub in Phuket, today launches its new direct service between Phuket and Udon Thani.

The biggest group of passengers is likely to be people from Udon working  in Phuket. They can now get home in a couple of hours, as opposed to having to fly via Bangkok with the usual couple of hours’ wait in Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The new service also makes it convenient for tourists to get from Phuket to Laos. From Udon to the Lao capital, Vientiane, is a short bus journey via Nong Khai and the Friendship Bridge across the Mekong river.

Better yet, the flight is currently priced at B690 for the less-than-two-hours one-way trip. Compared with the 10-hour drag by overnight bus from Phuket to Bangkok, costing B500 or more, then another 10 hours to Udon, costing an additional B260, it’s a no-brainer.

The AirAsia service takes off from Phuket at 14:40 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving in Udon at 16:20. The flight in the other direction takes off at 16:50 on the same day, landing in Phuket at 18:30.

For those contemplating a visit to the old capital of Laos, Luang Prabang, Lao Airlines has daily flights from Udon, taking about 50 minutes. However, Lao Airlines is no budget carrier – this flight costs around B2,800 one-way.

Phuket International Airport from the air. The recently completed Terminal 2 can be seen closest to the camera.

Phuket International Airport may have seen only a slight increase in passenger throughput last year, compared with 2007, but its owner, the Airports Authority of Thailand (AOT), clearly believes the global financial crisis will have no long-term effect on the island’s ability to attract ever-growing numbers of airlines and visitors.

The government in Bangkok plainly agrees – it has just approved a 5.8-billion-baht (US$175 million) plan to increase the airport’s capacity to 12.5 million passengers by 2018. This is on top of the recently completed second terminal, which increased capacity to 6.5 million passengers a year, at a cost of 516 million baht.

This year, the AOT expects the airport to accommodate 41,000 flights and about 6 million passengers, already close to terminal capacity. Part of the reason for this is the popularity of the airport – which charges lower landing fees than Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi – with low-cost carriers. One of these was Air Asia, which made Phuket a regional hub earlier this year, providing direct flights between the island and Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Under the plan, the current international terminal will become the domestic terminal building. Photo courtesy PhuketAirportOnline.com

The B5.8 billion budget will pay for the construction of more taxiways, 11 parking bays for aircraft, a new international passenger terminal, conversion of the existing international terminal into a domestic terminal, a new cargo building, new roads and improved transport systems, a parking garage for the international terminal, improvements in car parking areas, and a new airport office and airline offices. It will be funded entirely by revenue from the AOT, a listed company majority-owned by the state.

There is, however, no mention in the plan of an extension to the runway. Currently, all sizes of aircraft can land at Phuket, but the runway is too short for very large aircraft such as Boeing 747s and the new Airbus giant, the 380, to take off fully laden for long-haul flights.

Dovetailing with the airport expansion, but not part of the same budget, is the construction of a new road from the airport to Phuket Town. This has yet to receive government approval, but already many people who own land along its proposed route have donated parts of that land for the new road.

The Hotel de Ville (City Hall), an architectural confection preserved from the French colonial days, is just one of the delights of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Thomas Schoch

AirAsia has added yet another destination linked by direct flights to its Phuket regional hub – Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The service, launched on November 4, consists of one flight a day each way, leaving Phuket at 19:20 and arriving in HCM City at 21:10, with the return flight leaving at 21:40 and landing in Phuket at 23:35.

To celebrate the official announcement of the new route, AirAsia is offering special promotional fares from as low as USD25 (from HCMC to Phuket)  and B999 (in the other direction), for bookings for the travel period from December 3 this year to April 30 next year.

Guests may book through the AirAsia website or by pointing their phones to mobile.airasia.com.

Ho Chi Minh City, often referred to by its pre-Communist name, Saigon, has a mass of historical sights, a vibrant night life, good food and great coffee. It’s also close to such wonders as the Viet Cong tunnels of Cu Chi and the vast rice fields of the Mekong delta.

Jetstar A320 at Singapore's Changi Airport. - Photo by Terence Ong

If budget airlines have their way, one of Phuket’s biggest source of tourists in the coming “high” season will be Australia. Following Virgin’s announcements of direct flights from Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane from mid-November, Jetstar has announced it will add two more flights a week to its Sydney-Phuket Service from mid-December.

Jetstar currently flies to Phuket on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays (with return flights the same evening). From December 15 it will add Saturdays and Sundays to the schedule. Jetstar also flies three times a week between Melbourne and Bangkok.

The new flights will be aboard Jetstar’s seventh A330-200 aircraft, adding 1,200 seats to the route.

Phuket will also benefit from another Jetstar decision, to revive its twice-daily service from Singapore, starting on December 15. The airline dumped the route in March last year.

Jetstar’s Sydney-Phuket flights times will be as follows:

From Sydney: Mon, Fri, 14:15; Sat, Sun 14:35; Wed 15:15.

From Phuket: Mon, Fri, 21.00; Wed, Sat, Sun, 22:20

The Singapore-Phuket service will be as follows:

From Singapore: Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, 08:35; Mon/Fri/Sun, 06:35; Daily, 20:35.

From Phuket: Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, 10:00; Mon, Fri Sun, 07:50; Daily, 22:00.

Thai AirAsia Airbus at Changi Airport, Singapore. - Photo by Terence Ong.

Thai AirAsia has been giving more details of its plans for its new regional hub in Phuket, including a decision to base in Phuket two of three new Airbus A320s it has on order. That number may rise to four later.

The airline’s chief executive, Tassaporn Bijleveld, said that, from mid-November, AirAsia will add direct daily flights from Phuket to Hong Kong and Jakarta to its existing services to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and its eight daily flights to Bangkok.

New AirAsia route Phuket to Hong Kong from November 15th 2009. Introductory one way fare 999 baht. Book from October 5th to 11th. Travel from November 15th to July 31st, 2010. Book online at www.airasia.com

In April last year, Airports of Thailand, which owns Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Phuket airports, along with three other international airports in Thailand, offered discounts of up 95% off its landing fees at the non-Bangkok airports. Parking and landing fees are still considerably lower in Phuket than they are in Bangkok, Tassaporn noted.

Reports quoted him as saying that later on, AirAsia plans to link Phuket direct with other regional points such as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Siem Reap in Cambodia and Vientiane in Laos, as well as other Indonesia cities.

The direct service between Phuket and Hong Kong is being welcomed by the local tourism industry and by Hong Kongers who are regulars in Phuket or have vacation homes on the island. There are other airlines on the direct route, notably Dragon Air, but competition from a low-cost carrier will definitely be applauded.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post reports that AirAsia will begin scaling back its existing services between Bangkok and Hanoi, Macao and Penang in October.

An increasing number of airlines, especially from Australia, are flying direct to Phuket. See here and here for earlier stories.

All ready to Tuk Tuk off to Phuket: Pacific Blue's aircraft are red. Go figure. - Photo by D O'Neil

Virgin Blue has announced that its international subsidiary, Pacific Blue Airlines, will launch direct flights from Perth to Phuket from November 14.

The carrier will provide the only direct flights, twice a week, from Perth, providing “a perfect option for a long weekend escape, an extended honeymoon or romantic rendezvous, a boys’ cheeky week/girls’ getaway or a family-style holiday”, the airline says in jovial fashion, referring to its service as “Tuk Tuk off to Phuket”. That’s a joke, we think.

Virgin Blue says it took the decision to direct one of its modern Boeing 737-800 aircraft on to the route following a trend for travellers to take holidays closer to home in places where “they can get more bang for their buck”. Another jovial quip, we think.

A launch fare of A$299 one-way is on sale from now until midnight, August 26, for travel on direct flights between Perth and Phuket from November 14 to December 12, and January 26 to March 30 next year. The return flight is currently cheaper – around A$270, though that will change, no doubt. Standard fares for the service will start at around A$399 each way. The flights will leave Perth on Tuesdays and Saturdays, returning on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “We are pleased to be making one of Thailand’s holiday hot spots a convenient destination and affordable option for West Australian travellers.

“While West Australians are used to having Bali in their backyard, Phuket has been out of reach, not just because of no direct service but price also. All that has now changed. This new destination for WA provides a whole different cultural and culinary holiday experience.”

Virgin Blue will closely monitor demand for the new Phuket flights to determine future schedules and frequencies based on support for the new services.

For further information on fares and schedules, visit the parent airline’s website.