Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Laos Airlines

International Flights

Laos Airlines offers international services from Vientiane to Bangkok (daily), Chiang Mai(Tue, Fri, Sun), Hanoi (Daily), Phnom Pehn (Daily), Siem Reap (Wed, Fri, Sun), Kunming (Wed, Sun). From Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai (Tue, Fri, Sun) and from Pakse to Siem Reap (Wed, Fri, Sun)

Domestic Flights

Laos Airlines offers multiple flights from Vientiane to the following provincial capitals: Luang Prabang (daily), Savannakhet (daily), Luang Namtha (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun), Xieng Khouang (daily), Pakse (daily), Oudomxai (Tu, Th, Sat, Sun), Xayyabuli (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun), Houixay (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat), Thakhek (Fri), and Saravane (via Savannakhet, Sun. only).

Fares and booking

The Laos Airlines website contains details of fares. The site does not deal with reservations or online booking. If you wish to book in advance you should use a reputable agency such as Traveller 2000 who will deliver tickets internationally and within Thailand where they are based.

Aircraft

Lao Airlines operates a fleet of Airbus A320s, Aerospatiale ATR72s and Chinese built Y12’s on domestic and regional international routes from its main base at Vientiane (Wattay) Airport. International flights are usually serviced by the airline's new Airbus A320-200.

Safety


There are quite a few references to Lao Airlines not maintaining its planes but its safety record doesn't seem to be poor – its planes keep flying. (The last recorded fatalities were in October 2000 and all accidents recorded by Airlines Safety Network concerned the Chinese or Russian built aircraft.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is interesting stuff. Great photos also. I'm going to Luang Prabang November 19-21 as a side trip to a vacation in Thailand. Wish I had more time to see Laos but I feel lucky just to be going there. I've been to Thailand 3 times but never been across the border. Good luck on your trip!

Iris said...

This is fantastic!