Qatar Airways’ first direct non-stop flight to the beautiful holiday destination of Pattaya touched down at U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport, inaugurating the award-winning airline’s newest Thai destination. This celebration marks Qatar Airways’ fifth route to the Southeast Asian country, and is the first new route launch for Qatar Airways in 2018.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to be the first Middle East airline to offer direct flights to Pattaya. Having also launched flights to Chiang Mai in Thailand just last month and soon to launch our sixth-daily flight to Bangkok, this new route reinforces and deepens the strong ties that exist between the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Thailand.
Pattaya is a major resort city located on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast, and a popular holiday destination for travelers from both within Thailand and abroad, seeking to experience the local Thai hospitality and culture, or relax on one of Pattaya’s long, stunning beaches. The main attractions include the three kilometer-long Pattaya beach that runs parallel to the centre of the city, the Sanctuary of Truth traditional wooden temple, a floating market and extensive shopping areas.
Qatar Airways’ new four-times-a-week service to Pattaya offers five-star comfort on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, with 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class. Passengers on board will be able to enjoy the airline’s superior entertainment system, Oryx One, offering up to 4,000 entertainment options to choose from.
Qatar Airways has successfully operated services to Thailand for more than 20 years. The airline began services to Bangkok, its first destination in Thailand. Since then, the airline has been steadily increasing its number of flights to the country due to tremendous passenger demand. The airline currently operates services 35 times a week to Bangkok, 14 times a week to Phuket, daily to Krabi, and as of last month, four times a week to Chiang Mai. The new four-times-weekly service to Pattaya increases the airline’s total weekly frequency to 64 flights a week to Thailand. From 25 March, the airline will also increase its service to Bangkok to six daily flights, making the total number of flights operated to Thailand to 71 weekly flights.
In the second half of 2017, Qatar Airways expedited its ambitious expansion plans with launches to a number of popular destinations including Skopje, Prague, and Kyiv in Eastern Europe; Adana, Turkey; St Petersburg, Russia and Chiang Mai, Thailand. The airline will be adding flights to many more destinations in 2018, including Malaga, Spain; Mykonos, Greece and Cardiff, United Kingdom.
