Phuket-Bali Route Among AirAsia's Peace Plans

AIRASIA is ready to offer promotions and special packages to Thailand and even flights between destination rivals Phuket and Bali . . . just as soon as Thailand lifts its state of emergency declaration for Bangkok and 23 provinces.

The budget airline, a growing force in international travel, has called for the Thai government and countries imposing travel alerts to Thailand to clarify the parts of Thailand that are safe for tourists, and that have remained safe during the political unrest.
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The chief executive officer of AirAsia Thailand, Tassapon Bijleveld, told Phuketwan today that unless the issue of Thailand's safety for tourists was made clear quickly, European travellers especially would go instead to Malaysia, Cambodia or Vietnam instead of Thailand.

""Phuket has been clearly affected but it remains healthier than other destinations,'' he said. ''Most experienced travellers know that they can catch a direct flight to Phuket and be safe. But first-time travellers tend to believe what the state of emergency and the national travel alerts tell them.''

The head of the Minor Group, William Heinecke, has called on all ambassadors in Thailand to lift travel alerts immediately so the tourism industry can return to normal. Minor employs 25,000 staff.

Phuket's position as AirAsia's southern hub in Thailand remains unfulfilled as long as the travel alerts are in place. Some nations have confused travellers with inaccurate and non-specific travel warnings.

Mr Bijleveld said Phuket could have direct flight links to Bali and Macau operating before next high season - provided normality returns, or the government makes it clear that some parts of Thailand have remained safe and continue to be safe for tourists.

He said that AirAsia's existing Bangkok-Macau flights demonstrated that 80 percent of visitors went on to Phuket, so taking them there directly from October or November made sense.

The Australians who visited Phuket often enjoyed Bali as well, so it was time to link the rival destinations, he said. ''They can spend a few days in each and compare them both,'' he said.

''After all, these are the two most desirable destinations in the region. It makes sense to link them. Why have Sydney-Phuket, and Sydney-Bali, but not Phuket-Bali?''

AirAsia already has big plans to open up India-Phuket routes from Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and New Delhi (formerly New Delhi) as soon as August.