tdo

There must be reason for some airlines to continue to earn profit when others are flailing... Great case study, Southwest Airlines, 60+ quarters of profit, and the same airline that Air Asia, Tiger Airways are copying their efficient business model.

another observation, Air Asia & tiger Airways all fly brand new or relatively new planes, Airbus 319 and 320s. Fuel efficiency for these new engines are probably 10 times better than what Nok, 1-2 go and the rest of the failing US airlines, whose were flying 15-20 years old Boeing 737 or Airbus planes.

APRIL'S FOOL!

Nice one... a train station in Phuket, :-)

One of the worst media inaccuracy so far during this phenomenal tragedy by AFP (Agence France-Presse), Patong was nothing like what this lame article described on new year's eve. Muted? I still can smell firecrackers smoke in my hair and clothes.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050101/1/3plis.html

Raucous Thai island bar strip is muted on New Year's Eve

In Patong Beach's normally raucous and riotous nightlife strip, the music and the party mood were replaced by quiet hugs and tears on New Year's Eve.

"No one is in the mood for celebrating," said British customer Julian Burgess, five days after tidal waves slammed into Phuket island and other southern Thai resort areas with massive loss of life.

"People think life should go on but also think celebrating too much is disrespectful. People will be sitting here getting quietly drunk."

As midnight struck, hundreds of foreign tourists in Thailand's top resort island joined their Thai hosts in tearful hugs and spontaneous candle-lighting.

Customers, bar girls and shopowners emptied the beer halls, to join other somber and emotional holidaymakers in the streets for the first moments of 2005, many of them weeping or breaking down in tears.

"I was here when the wave hit," Graham Francis, a fortysomething Australian with tattoos on his arms and tears streaming down his face, told AFP.

"My son called and said 'Dad, come home'. I said I can't, this is when the Thais need us here the most. The best thing tourists could do is stay and help the Thais any way they can."

One minute after midnight, the first rains since the killer tsunamis struck began to fall on Patong.

The mood was similar across much of the country.

Traditional countdowns in Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai were cancelled, replaced by Buddhist merit-making ceremonies for the dead on New Year's morning.

Several New Year's eve buffets and parties were only half full in the capital's major hotels. Bands played but the dancefloors remained empty.

In the once-idyllic resort island of Phi Phi, where hundreds died, a candlelight vigil and Buddhist ceremony were to be held.

Back in Phuket, many businesses opened Friday night for the first time since the waves smashed into the resort. Every second or third business was still shuttered.

Australian Garry Russell, owner of the Gaz Bar, said local business owners had a long debate about whether to reopen and decided to do so to save staff jobs.

"People around here and tourists are trying to focus on normal things like enjoying themselves because they also have to face the grim reality of what has happened here," Russell said.

More upmarket outlets were also toning down celebrations.

"We are having a gathering of the staff and all our guests are invited to light candles with them at midnight for the people who have died," said Thanarat Jadpatananon, who owns the Sawasdee hotel on Patong beach.

"We are giving everyone free food and drinks but there will be no alcohol. This is definitely not a party or time to celebrate," she said.

Some resorts said the government had urged them to cancel celebrations.

"In Thailand, the government office announced that there shouldn't be any party or festival," said a front office assistant at the Phuket Merlin Hotel.

"Lots of people died. We cannot celebrate."

Some people nonetheless were making the best of the situation.

In Patong, nine elaborately dressed drag queens carried relief collection boxes. Several tourists contributed.

"Make the new year better by helping the victims," said one of the ladies, who identified herself as "Ice Cream".

Many businesses are still in ruins but some of the beaches themselves -- which last Sunday were strewn with bodies and debris -- now look idyllic again. There are even sunbathing tourists.

"We arrived yesterday and weren't sure whether to come or not or even lay on the beach but the Thais just seem really happy to have us here," said Texan dog trainer Laura Weenig, 29.

For some the hunt for friends continued. American Ian Sobieski said he would keep scouring checklists across the island until he traced his friend, 38-year-old Carol Shellhorn.

"I flew out 12 hours before it happened and then I flew straight back and have been searching for her since," he said.