November 05, 2020

Anna Murray 

Thai Airways will be operating a special flight to nowhere on November 30. The flight will be full of worshipers and fly over 99 sacred sites across 31 provinces. According to Thai Airways, passengers will be chanting Buddhist mantras for much of the flight and will receive souvenirs of a Buddha amulet and a prayer book. The flight reportedly will take 3 hours, taking off and returning Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The holy sites include the UNESCO-listed heritage sites in Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. Other sacred sites include historic Ayutthaya, Wat Arun, the Temple of Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Phra Samut Chedi in Samut Prakarn, and Wat Phra Boromma That Chaiya in Surat Thani.

There are a number of airlines worldwide also operate flights to nowhere. One of the biggest carriers in Taiwan, Evergreen Airways (EVA Air), offered customers the special journey on August 8 to celebrate Father's Day in Taiwan. The flight to nowhere took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, then circled the skies around three hours before returning to the same airport. 

Meanwhile, Qantas and Antarctica Flights have launched the exclusive Antarctic sightseeing flights during the 2020 season from November to February 2021. Passengers will board a comfortable 787 Dreamliner over a 12 hours flight from takeoff to touchdown at the same airport including Australia’s most popular cities Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.

This flight to nowhere is part of Thai Airways’ new “Magical Flying Experience” campaign. It is aimed to revive the tourism sector in accordance with the Thai government’s policy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Flight tickets for the religious journey cost Thai baht (THB) 10,000, equivalent to USD 322, in business class, and THB 6,000 (USD 193) in the economy class.

Photo:Webshot.