Thai Airways International and Lao Airlines have signed a Memorandum of Agreement for “Tourism Cooperation: Gateway to Indochina”.

The agreement between THAI and Lao Airlines will provide an additional travel option for passengers. In addition, the agreement which will be effective from April 2006 will encourage tourism to Lao PDR with Thailand as the gateway to Indochina.Ê

Mr. Somchainuk Engtrakul, THAI’s Member of the Board of Directors Acting as President said, “THAI foresees the importance and growing capacity in trade, investment and travel which has steadily risen over the past years between Thailand and Lao PDR, especially in tourism. According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), 926,875 tourists traveled to Lao PDR in 2005 and it is anticipated that the number will increase to more than 1 million tourists in 2007. From the number of tourists travelling to Lao PDR, the majority traveled from Thailand with the remainder from USA, France, England, Japan and Germany.”

The MOU agreement between the two airlines involved Double Prefix cooperation in the first stage which later will be developed into Code Share cooperation on the route, Bangkok - Vientianne and Luang Prabang - Chiang Mai. Also, the agreement will involve cooperation in the form of interlining for long haul destinations from USA, Australia, France and Japan for tourists wishing to travel to Lao PDR.

The MOU agreement should also encourage both Thai and Lao residents to travel conveniently between Thailand and Lao PDR for business and leisure as well as provide a gateway to Indochina from Thailand.
——-