THEPHUKETNEWS.COM
FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2013
Bangkok Airways plans share float BANGKOK AIRWAYS IS currently filing its IPO with the Stock Exchange of Thailand possibly targeting a launch date later this year. Bangkok Airways will be the last of the country’s main airlines to list on Thailand’s stock exchange. In its filing to SET, the company is described as premium boutique airline with brand “Bangkok Airways” operating domestic flights to 12 destinations and international flights to 11 destinations. Also,
it operates airline-related businesses under its subsidiaries including airports, ground handling services, air-cargo and airline catering services. According to its preliminary filing, the IPO will be based on 730 million shares (520 million new shares and 210 million existing shares valued at B1 each). The IPO period, price and day of trading has still to be determined, but sources say it should be before the end of the year. TTR Weekly
Thai TV ownership close to saturation I N T ER NAT IONA L ratings company Nielsen forecasts that up to 22.6 million households in Thailand will have a TV set this year or 99.6 per cent of the 22.688 million households, up from a 92.8 per cent rate in 2008. The data show that growing awareness of the value of information and news content are key factors in the significant increase in TV ownership in Thailand.
The percentage of Thai households with TV in and around Bangkok is close to 100 per cent. Nielsen said TV ownership in rural areas looks set to exceed 99 per cent this year. A Nielsen survey found Thais spend 3.49 hours a day watching TV. Soap operas are the most popular content, followed by entertainment, news and mini-series. Bangkok Post
BUSINESS NEWS 13
Thai space tourists up for ultimate ride S
pace tourism is now a reality for Thai tourists, after Bangkok-based Khiri Voyages was named exclusive Thailand agent for the Space Expedition Corporation (SXC). The first one-hour flight into space is planned for later this year or early 2014, and is priced at B4.2 million. After booking, Thai space travellers will undergo training in the Netherlands, which includes a flight in a L-39 Albatross jet and the unique Desdemona simulator, which generates G-forces of up to 3.3G. The space flight begins on a runway either in the Mojave Desert in California or on the island of Curaçao in the southern Caribbean Sea. The two-seater Lynx jet flies to 58.5 kilometres above earth. The engines are then shut off and the aircraft’s momentum carries it to 103 km above earth where a state of weightlessness occurs. At the highest point passengers can float in the space craft and see the curvature of the Earth.
Private shuttle: The Lynx Mk I will take passengers, one at a time, into space. The Lynx then returns to earth with the space traveller experiencing 4G atmospheric re-entry forces along the way. The jet makes a horizontal landing. The entire trip takes approximately one hour. For the Thai market, the trip price includes the training in the Netherlands and the space journey from the Spaceport in either Curacao or the USA, business class flights from Bangkok to both destinations, transfers, and deluxe accommodation for two people.
The aircraft is made by Californian aerospace company XCOR. SXC is effectively the General Sales Agent (GSA) for XCOR, and has just opened an Asian division, SXC Asia, which in turn has been making agency agreements with local companies such as Khiri. In the past 14 years XCOR has developed and built 13 different rocket engines and built and flown two manned rocket-powered aircraft. The EZ-Rocket, completed in 2001, was the first such
vehicle built and flown by a non-government entity. In 2008 the second, the X-Racer, ending the test program with a record-setting seven flights in one day. Between the two vehicles, XCOR has flown a “piloted rocket operations demonstrator aircraft” 66 times, with 4,000 engine firings to ensure that power is not a problem. The company says that two more “vehicles”, including one capable of going into orbit, are planned for the future.