Australia’s Virgin Aims for Phuket Adventures

With the budget airline Jetstar already bringing Australian tourists in large numbers, the Virgin Group has just applied for government permission to start flying ‘’seven weekly services between points in Australia and Thailand.”

The request went on to specify that ”Pacific Blue will operate these services to Phuket utilizing 180 seat B737-800 aircraft”.

If the proposal wins approval, Virgin Group plans to utilize the rights progressively until it reaches the seven services by April 2010, the sources report. The rights to fly to Thailand would hold for five years.

Thai Airways International and Virgin Blue signed an interline agreement last year that made Virgin Blue the carrying airline from 13 key domestic destinations in Australia, via THAI’s four international gateway ports:

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to both Bangkok and Phuket.

Meanwhile the Hong Kong-based ASA Group has been given the green light by AOT to develop Thailand’s first dedicated VIP operations base on Phuket, with the island described as ”a gateway to the country’s lucrative tourist region.”

The state-of-the-art terminal and business center will accommodate the growing ranks of VIP visitors to Thailand each year and is scheduled to open in a few months.

A spokesperson ASA Group said, ”We handle so many private flights into Bangkok and Phuket, so the time is right to cater for our growing client base of VIP visitors who have nowhere in the airport to go once they disembark.”

ASA will offer a range of services including aircraft handling, charter, security, in-flight catering and over-flight and landing clearances.

AOT has announced its plan to expand Phuket International at a cost of five billion Baht to boost capacity to about 11.5 million passengers by 2016.

Another Australian group with an interest in the tourism sector is also expanding to the Andaman.

Hotel Representation Australia already provides brand awareness and promotion for the five-star The Racha in Phuket. Now it has announced a deal with the Andaman Club, a unique resort on an island between

Ranong and Victoria Point, under the Burma/Myanmar flag.

The five-star Andaman Club resort is home to a casino and a golf course, and familiar to many who have made visa runs over the border to the island.

Another two resorts, the South Sea Karon on Karon beach and the South Sea Grand on Pakarang Beach, Khao Lak, in neighboring Phang Nga province, have also signed with HRA.