Crystal Thai Airlines - allegedly starting service at the end of January, but the website doesn't function fully at the moment:

CTA

Anyone know whether this is a wind up or not?

Their Site looks pretty serious about the whole deal. Interesting destinations they have planned.

Could definitely be interesting.

Interesting, if this is true!

The schedules are not available yet, but a low cost flight between Bangkok and Clark (Philippines) at a decent time of day would be useful, at the moment only Cebu Pacific fly this route and it is a late night flight.

Just wish that a lowcost airline would consider the Bangkok to Cebu (Philippines) route!

The Cebu Pacific flight from Clark to Bangkok is badly timed:

Clark - Bangkok 20:45 - 23:00

Bangkok - Clark 23:40 - 03:55

Likewise the current Cebu Pacific flight from Manila to Bangkok is late at night:

Manila - Bangkok 21:35 - 23:50

Bangkok - Manila 00:35 - 04:50

Note that in a couple of weeks however Cebu Pacific launch a new thrice weekly flight:

Manila - Bangkok 14:40 - 16:55

Bangkok - Manila 17:40 - 22:00

Edited January 14, 201115 yr by davee58

The aircraft are younger than the pilots too. A refreshing change in Thai airline start-ups.

Strange not to have heard of this airline before... website's full of bugs though (in Chrome anyway) which isn't an encouraging sign...

Strange not to have heard of this airline before... website's full of bugs though (in Chrome anyway) which isn't an encouraging sign...

Interesting, they are so confident about their future that they have consigned their plans to history,

On their website Click "Our Profile" then "History"

* Our History:

04 Nov. 2009 Established Crystal Thai Airlines Co., Ltd Capital Thai bat. 201,000,000 (\ 7, 400,000,000)

02 Apr. 2010 Obtained Air Operation License (9/2553)

29 Sep. 2010 Obtained Air Operation Certificate (AOC26/2553)

Oct. 2010 Introduced 1 Airbus 320-200

30 Jan. 2011 Launched Bangkok - Muan route

31 Jan. 2011 Launched Bangkok - Incheon route

Feb. 2011 Launched Bangkok – Colombo route

Apr. 2011 Introduced 2 Boeing 747

So looks like they will be starting with Bangkok - Korea, and then Bangkok - Sri Lanka.

Strange not to have heard of this airline before... website's full of bugs though (in Chrome anyway) which isn't an encouraging sign...

Interesting, they are so confident about their future that they have consigned their plans to history,

On their website Click "Our Profile" then "History"

* Our History:

04 Nov. 2009 Established Crystal Thai Airlines Co., Ltd Capital Thai bat. 201,000,000 (\ 7, 400,000,000)

02 Apr. 2010 Obtained Air Operation License (9/2553)

29 Sep. 2010 Obtained Air Operation Certificate (AOC26/2553)

Oct. 2010 Introduced 1 Airbus 320-200

30 Jan. 2011 Launched Bangkok - Muan route

31 Jan. 2011 Launched Bangkok - Incheon route

Feb. 2011 Launched Bangkok – Colombo route

Apr. 2011 Introduced 2 Boeing 747

So looks like they will be starting with Bangkok - Korea, and then Bangkok - Sri Lanka.

Korea would be great. Much better than the Philippines someone else mentioned.

Looks verry good,but what about prices?

Check out the FAQ page:

Q : Could I travel with my pet? A : We allowed only cat and dog on to our flight. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information and further arrangement.

Either they are part of Bangkok Airways - which I doubt, or someone has just cut & paste the FAQs

My girlfriend works at Suvarnabhumi check in counters. she would handle most of the smaller airlines so would know if a new airline was being launched. I will ask her, then get back to you tommorrow when I wake up.

Post withdrawn

Edited January 16, 201115 yr by Fookhaht

Shades of Isaan Air.

Somebody's IT project I imagine? It is funny that CNNgo and Aviation Week picked this up.

edited to add: I forget we have a large percentage of members who think the idiotic Notthenation stories are real...This airline is not real or genuine.

Edited January 16, 201115 yr by lomatopo

Korea would be great. Much better than the Philippines someone else mentioned.

Not great for those people stuck in the Philippines!

There are not that many flights out of this place...

Have spoken with the girlfriend and she knows nothing about any Crystal anything airlines. Seems by the responses of others too that this is probably not real, sadly.. as the Manila flight wouldve gone down a treat. Philippine Airlines is too expensive, Thai Airways is too expensive (on a global scalle now sadly) and Cebu Pacific have great prices, but fly out at midnight.

Have spoken with the girlfriend and she knows nothing about any Crystal anything airlines. Seems by the responses of others too that this is probably not real, sadly.. as the Manila flight wouldve gone down a treat. Philippine Airlines is too expensive, Thai Airways is too expensive (on a global scalle now sadly) and Cebu Pacific have great prices, but fly out at midnight.

Wikipedia begs to differ... This link on Aviation Week also gives it a bit more credibility. The Isaan Air thing is obviously a tongue-in-cheek jokey kind of site. Nothing satirical in evidence with The Crystal Airlines site. Looks like it's either a real airline which is about to open for business this month, or a very elaborate hoax constructed for no humorous (or other) benefit.

Here's another one I hadn't heard of: Happy Air.

Check out the FAQ page:

Q : Could I travel with my pet? A : We allowed only cat and dog on to our flight. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information and further arrangement.

Either they are part of Bangkok Airways - which I doubt, or someone has just cut & paste the FAQs

Do you have to buy a seat for your dog or can it sit on your knee or in a bassinet like a baby?

Here's another one I hadn't heard of: Happy Air.

Happy Air have been flying since Oct 2009 but they only have 1 turboprop aircraft (Saab 340) based in Phuket.

Korea would be great. Much better than the Philippines someone else mentioned.

Not great for those people stuck in the Philippines!

There are not that many flights out of this place...

That was my subtle point. We'd all like someone to start service on a route we use. But your comments about flying to the Philippines have nothing to do with this thread about Crystal Air, which only flies to Korea. the reason there aren't more flights to the Philippines is there isn't the demand for them. And the reason for late-night flights is that landing slots are cheaper then. If there were more passengers who were willing to pay more, there would be more flights at other times. None of this means you wouldn't fly more often or pay more, but that's the business model.

But your comments about flying to the Philippines have nothing to do with this thread about Crystal Air, which only flies to Korea. the reason there aren't more flights to the Philippines is there isn't the demand for them. And the reason for late-night flights is that landing slots are cheaper then. If there were more passengers who were willing to pay more, there would be more flights at other times. None of this means you wouldn't fly more often or pay more, but that's the business model.

"Crystal Air, which only flies to Korea"?

Incorrect, you must have overlooked the link to CTA in the original post.

The Crystal Air website has an interactive "Our Destinations" map on the front page showing Clark as a destination. Clark airport is in the Philippines if you did not know.

The destination map also shows Dubai, Mumbai, Colombo, Phuket, and Bhutan as destinations, none of which are in Korea.

The reason for late night flights by Cebu Pacific is that the planes are better utilised for domestic flights during the day. In any case as I said in post #4 above, Cebu Pacific will be starting thrice weekly daytime MNL - BKK flights in a few days time.

The demand is there, the Cebu Pacific MNL - BKK flight was packed last night.