[aussie dollar]

Singaporean airlines offer Phuket deals


PHUKET: Thai Airways International may have slashed it services to Phuket, but airlines in Singapore are doing precisely the opposite, by offering special deals to travelers to Phuket.

In a joint promotion with selected hotels in Phuket, Krabi and Langkawi, SilkAir is offering travellers special value packages to these holiday destinations, valid until the end of February.

Priced from just S$99 (2,330 baht) for three days and two nights in Phuket, the packages include airfares, accommodation, breakfast and airport transfers.

The airline is also offering return air fares for S$80 (1,880 baht) per person for two people booking together. The fares are also valid until the end of February, excluding the Chinese New Year period, from February 7 to 11.

The new budget airline, Tiger Airways, is offering 20,000 low-fare one-way tickets from Singapore to Phuket for travel before April 2005 for just S$9.98 (235 baht) apiece.

The tickets went on sale on January 21, and 2,000 were snapped up in the first three days. The passengers can also get special room rates at 32 hotels in Phuket.

SilkAir flies to Phuket twice daily, Tiger Airways once a day.

Meanwhile, THAI, which has cut all its international connections to Phuket, along with two of its daily Bangkok-Phuket flights, is trying to make up the deficit by offering discounted flights and flight-and-accommodation packages for Phuket, Krabi and Trang.

Flights from Bangkok to Phuket are now priced at 3,800 baht, to Krabi at 4,200 baht and to Trang at 4,400 baht.

Three-day-two-night packages in the three destinations, including return fares from Bangkok, accommodation, breakfast and airport transfers, are on offer from Thai at prices from 5,000 baht upward. They are valid until March 31.