Airline hub Bangkok

With Bangkok's US$4 billion new airport soon to receive its first public test flight and a host of fledgling budget carriers promising cheap access to the skies for all, the Thai capital was abuzz with aviation-industry talk when the delegates to the Asia Pacific Airline Engineering and Maintenance Conference jetted into the city late last year. Not surprisingly, that was one of the reasons the city was chosen to host the annual event, which brings together representatives from airlines and aero-engineering and maintenance companies from around the world. Bangkok's status as a hub for international flights was another. "Our delegates come from all over the world, so Bangkok is easy to fly to for people from the Southeast Asian region, as well as Australasia, Europe and the US," said Gail Clarke from Aviation Industry Group, the conference organiser. "As it was an aviation conference, the fact that Thai Airways are based in Bangkok also provided us with the opportunity to have a conference chairman from Thai Airways and to increase participation from other local airlines and aviation companies. Bangkok now has several new low-cost airlines, so we were happy to invite these airlines to attend the conference free of charge," she said. Venue choice Bangkok's various tourist attractions, climate, culture and relatively low costs were also factors that helped persuade the organisers to opt for the city. Most of the delegates began arriving at the venue hotel, the JW Marriott in the downtown Sukhumvit area of Bangkok, one or two days before the conference started. Given that most participants were seasoned travellers well acquainted with international trips, it was decided to let them find their own way from the airport. Letters containing conference information were waiting for the 100 or so delegates at the Marriott's reception desk and the group got together for the first time for a drinks reception that night. In similar straight-to-business fashion, the organisers provided no dinner, entertainment or travel arrangements. The first day of the conference featured a number of speakers who provided an overview of the industry, touching on issues such as the health of the aviation sector, the future outlook and trends in maintenance. The day closed with another drinks reception. Clarke described the drinks sessions as probably the highlight of the conference as they gave everyone a chance to relax and get to know one other and exchange ideas and information in an informal setting. "It would have been very nice to have been able to hold the drinks receptions outside, by the poolside. Unfortunately due to the heat and the rain we were not able to do so. That is something I would have done differently if it had been possible," she said. On the second day of the conference, the topic of discussion moved to issues such as cost savings, outsourcing trends and technical maintenance issues. From an organisational point of view, Clarke said the conference had gone very well. The only real hitch was some problems with packages sent by courier to Thailand and demands for clearance tax. Working relationship Clarke said the hotel stepped in to clear up the issue, paid the tax and added the charges to the bill. The unexpected cost was 'very inconvenient' but apart from that Clarke said she had no complaints about the choice of venue, the decision for which had been made about eight months prior to the conference. Aviation Industry Group, she said, chose the JW Marriott because of a long-standing working relationship in other parts of the world, and the Bangkok branch didn't let them down. Clarke rated the conference as one of the best they'd had. "This year's event was better than previous conferences due to the increase in numbers. Discussions during the conference were more interesting and networking opportunities were good." In all, about 100 delegates attended the conference and five companies took promotional stands. This represented about a 25 percent increase on the previous year, when the conference was held in Kuala Lumpur and a 40 percent increase on the 2003 conference, which was held in Singapore. "Bangkok provides good value for money. The costs are much lower than cities such as Singapore, where we have previously held the conference. This helps us to keep our costs low, and encourages delegates to attend," Clarke said. Pensri Niwatsiriwong, director of the Marriott's event-booking centre, said the hotel felt the conference had gone well and that her team had met the demands of Aviation Industry Group and the delegates. "As we are a city hotel our customers usually come here for meetings and don't request teambuilding programmes, so we didn't provide physical activities such as rock climbing. We made sure that everything was in place, and that all the participants were happy during their stay," she said.