Bangkok Airways Orders Six A350s

Bangkok Airways has announced its decision to acquire six Airbus A350s for operation on new long range services from Thailand to Europe, commencing in 2012.

"Having taken into account all competitive and economic factors, we decided to choose the Airbus A350 wide-body aircraft for our future expansion into the long-haul market. Commonality with our Airbus A320 fleet was one of the key drivers in our decision making process," said Dr. Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bangkok Airways.

The airline currently operates a fleet of seventeen jet and turboprop aircraft on a network of services to exotic tourist destinations in Thailand and across Asia. The fleet includes three leased A320s, which are deployed on services from Bangkok to destinations in China and Japan.

According to Airbus, the Bangkok Airways order takes total firm orders and commitments for the new Airbus A350 to 170 aircraft from 13 customers.

"We are proud to see Bangkok Airways joining the growing list of launch customers for the A350," said Airbus President and CEO Gustaf Humbert. "This really demonstrates the popularity of our new wide-body in the market place. I am confident that that the spacious, superbly equipped cabin of the new A350 (file photo, below) will be outstandingly popular with the airline’s future long haul passengers, and enable it to maintain and even further improve the award winning reputation that the 36 year old airline has established over the years for providing its passengers with the very highest standards of comfort and service."

Bangkok Airways has established an excellent reputation as a quality, boutique airline bringing visitors to Thailand and many of Asia’s World Heritage sites. Signalling a major strategic development, the airline is expanding into long-haul routes for the first time and the A350-800 marks its first ever wide-body aircraft purchase.

Bangkok Airways has selected a comfortable two-class interior with 258 seats, each equipped with individual video entertainment, including 36 lie-flat beds in Premium Class and 222 seats in Economy Class. The airline will announce its engine choice at a later date.

Airbus is an EADS joint company with BAE Systems.

FMI: www.bangkokair.com