At A Glance

Traveloka, a leading technology company providing online travel and lifestyle booking for domestic and international destinations, yesterday introduced its latest feature, “Flight Status”, to enable users to track flight status in real time.
This feature aims to make it easier for users to track flights in various conditions, and can be both the fliers and those who want to pick up their family, friends or colleagues at the airport.
Tee Chayakul, country manager at Traveloka Thailand said, “We are always committed to accommodating user needs, [and] one of them is tracking their flight status. For people with high mobility, we want to provide flight status information that is presented in a convenient and easy to access way.
The company also wanted to make it easy for people who have arrived at the airport and do not want to search for a departure schedule board, he said. 

Overall vehicle sales hit 1.04m units last year
Up to 1.04 million vehicles were sold in Thailand last year, according to figures from Mazda Sales (Thailand) Co Ltd (MST).
Mazda sold more than 75,000 vehicles in the country last year, the report said, to achieve a 6.7-per cent market share.
The company plans to further grow sales by another 5 to 10 per cent this year, said MST president Chanchai Trakarnudomsuk.
“This year the projection for the Thai auto market is 1.03 to 1.05 million vehicles, and Mazda plans to sell more than 75,000 vehicles this year, said Chanchai at a company press conference in Bangkok yesterday.
Mazda achieved growth in 2018 despite having no new models that year, but in 2019 the company plans to launch six new models in Thailand, said Chanchai. 

KFC adopts a tea habit
Thai tea lovers can for the first time get their fix at KFC. A concentrated Thai tea with a mellow and milky flavour will be available in three styles – cold Thai tea, Thai tea float, and cold volcano float black crunchy. They start at Bt25 until January 30 (or until the product runs short) at all KFC branches.
KFC reserves the right to change conditions without prior notice.
The Volcano Float Black Crunchy is not available at Bangla Mall, Phuket, Indra Water Gate, Dream World, Royal Garden Pattaya, Jung Ceylon Phuket, Don Mueang Airport and IMPACT Muang Thong Thani, including all branches that do not sell cold drinks or ice cream.

Banpu takes roadshow to Japanese investors
Banpu Public Company Limited (BANPU), a leading integrated energy solutions company in Asia-Pacific, in early January held a roadshow to boost confidence among over 10 large financial institutions and investors in Japan. 
During the roadshow, top executives presented Banpu’s “greener & smarter strategy” and its direction to continuously and sustainably expand the growth of the group’s businesses in 10 countries.
The three core groups of businesses are energy resources (coal and gas, including related operations such as marketing, training, logistics, fuel procurement, and transmission), energy generation (coal-fired and renewable power plants), and energy technology (total solar energy solutions, energy storage systems and energy technology systems).
The roadshow received a positive response, according to a press release yesterday from the company. 
Financial institutions and investors agreed to support business expansion both in Japan and other countries and affirmed Banpu’s sustainability strategy and the potential to create added value and maximise shareholder return over the long run.
Somruedee Chaimongkol, chief executive officer, Banpu Plc, said that Banpu’s energy resources group has quality assets that provide a sustained margin and would generate a high return on investment in 2019. 
The coal business continues to grow thanks to rising consumer demand and a high average selling price. 
Meanwhile, natural gas production capacity has increased over the past year. The energy generation group boasts decades of experience in the power business in Asia-Pacific under the operation of Banpu Power Plc and strong integration from other Banpu businesses. 
In 2019, power generation capacity is projected to grow more than 300 MW, particularly from solar farms in Japan, which are well supported by the government and financial institutions, allowing the projects to progress as planned.
Somruedee said the company is ready to move forward to enhance the potential of its energy technology group by maximising innovation to create solutions for modern energy consumption under Banpu Infinergy Co Ltd’s operations. 
This will also help accelerate Thailand’s progress toward a smart city in line with the Energy 4.0 policy, she said.