Seaplanes in Thailand? Interview with Dennis
Keller, CBO of Siam Seaplane
If you are travelling to Maldives, or perhaps
visiting one of the great lakes in the US, Canada or Scotland,
then you may expect part of your journey to be by seaplane.
In Thailand however, there is a large
number of airports, a relatively good, and constantly improving,
road network, and plenty of boats, so why would someone wealthy
enough to take on the challenge think that the Kingdom needs a seaplane
service, and even if it does work, what benefits will it bring to
travellers?
Those are just a few of the many questions that
Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com puts to Dennis Keller, Chief
Business Officer of Siam Seaplane.
In this interview, filmed at the Ocean Marina
Pattaya Boat Show on 21 November 2019, Dennis tells us more about
the company, why they were attending the boat show, what being in 'Development Phase' really means, when
they hope to be fully operational and what exactly it is the
company will do once they are.
We discuss the types of seaplanes the company
will operate, whether they already have the planes here in
Thailand and how they have been configured.
We discuss the costs involved, licenses needed,
how they will manage the extensive maintenance required with
seaplanes, where they will get the pilots from, and how many they
will need.
Dennis gives us an idea of when they are hoping
to get the approval to launch flights, what routes they will
operate at the beginning, whether those routes will be entirely
charter or whether there will be scheduled services as well, and
why he feels that seaplanes are suitable for the Thai market.
We also talk about one of the largest challenges
that seaplane operators face, the last few hundred metres. While
it may sound great to fly from an airport directly to a luxury
resort, guests, and their bags, still need to get from the plane
to dry land, preferably without getting wet. Dennis tells us how
Siam Seaplane hopes to get over that issue and suggests some ideas
that will help them to get around that.
We also talk about the weather and Dennis tells
us if Siam Seaplane plans to operate year-round or whether it
will be seasonal - forgive the pun! All that and much, much more in the FHD video and podcast below.
Seaplanes in Thailand? Interview with
Dennis
Keller of Siam Seaplane
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