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Bangkok Airways will begin a direct service between the Thai capital and Da Nang, Vietnam, the airline has announced.
To start on May 25, the service will offer four weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The airline will operate 128-seat Airbus 319 aircraft on the route.
The flights will leave Suvarnabhumi Airport at 11am and arrive at Da Nang International Airport at 12.35. They will depart from Da Nang at 1.35pm.
The carrier said passengers could use a boutique lounge at Suvarnabhumi where they could treat themselves to free snacks and facilities like free Wi-Fi.
Business-class passengers and those with flyer bonus premier membership can avail themselves of extra treats like hot meals, personal shower rooms, and massages.
Bangkok Airways does not fly to any other destination in Vietnam.
– Viet Nam News

Singapore’s SilkAir to begin flights to Laos

Singapore Airlines’ full-service regional subsidiary SilkAir has confirmed plans to launch flights to Luang Prabang and Vientiane in October, becoming the eighth foreign airline group to serve Laos.
SilkAir’s new Singapore-Vientiane-Luang Prabang-Singapore circular route is strategically important for the SIA Group as Laos is the only Southeast Asian and Asean country not yet served by the group.
AirAsia is now the only airline group serving all 10 countries that make up Asean, according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation.
Subject to approvals, SilkAir will offer three weekly flights on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays to the two destinations on a circular routing, according to Singapore’s TTR weekly published on its website on Wednesday.
Flights from Singapore will make a stop in Vientiane and then continue to Luang Prabang, before heading back directly to Singapore.
The airline has not stated whether it has rights to pick up passengers on the Vientiane-Laos sector, or whether passengers can stop in Vientiane and resume their journey to Luang Prabang on a subsequent SilkAir flight. – Vientiane Times

Asean countries agree free-skies deal

Asean countries pushing for free skies, to give travellers more flights, lower fares and new destinations, have reached a key milestone.
All 10 member states have ratified a deal allowing airlines that meet safety requirements to fly freely from their home countries to any city within the bloc. In other words, the airlines from Asean countries will be able to make as many flights within the bloc as they want – as long as the airports can support them. The deal takes effect immediately.
Typically, air services are bound by government-to-government deals that stipulate how many flights airlines can operate and with which aircraft size. But the Asean agreement, sealed about four months behind schedule, comes with a caveat from Indonesia. For now, it has agreed to include just five airports in Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, North Sumatra and South Sulawesi in the deal. – The Straits Times