2022 Highlights, Sneak Peek 2023

Shortly after we incorporated Siam Seaplane in 2019, the COVID pandemic began. This made us face many additional challenges we did not anticipate. We were lucky that throughout the pandemic we garnered strong support from all fronts: the regulator, our resort and experience partners, our investors, and you. Instead of waiting or closing up shop, we could use this as an opportunity to accelerate our strengths.

Looking back at 2022, as the pandemic was now declared an endemic, borders opened and travel resumed (this year’s foreign tourist visitors are 29% of 2019 levels, or around 11.5 million people), many things happened in our company developments, too.

Our CEO, Ms. Worakanya Siripidej, puts it as follows: “we worked closely with government agencies to ensure that our procedures and services follow the guidelines, government restriction and laws for the highest standards. We are proud to speak of our cooperation with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), and related departments, to establish temporary water landing sites procedures and regulations to be the first in Thailand. 2023 will be exciting for us and for all!”

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To name but a few highlights: 

Various media coverage, both domestic and international, has given continuous exposure to how and why seaplanes are a must for Thailand. See, for example, an interview with our CEO on Thai TV channel TNN here, or a video interview with our CBO for Travel News Asia.

In Q2, we were proud to host a seaplane seminar with Government and private sector stakeholders. We had representatives from the Ministry of Transport Thailand, Civil Aviation Authority, Marine Department, Ministry of Transport Maldives, and many more.

Throughout our close work with resort and experience partners, we saw the need for a different kind of watersport offering and launched our sister brand Jetboard Thailand, distributing high-end, sustainable and fully electric surfboards and electric boats.

Then, a major highlight in Q4 was of course the delivery of our first aircraft, a proud moment for all of us and especially the Operations team who worked tirelessly on our launch.

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Captain Lionel Mougel, our COO, adds: “Following our launch preparations and amidst what is left of the pandemic, I would like to salute the hard work provided by my team in the ultimate goal to see our first aircraft taking off for its first chartered operation, alongside the closer cooperation with the various authorities involved in this process.”

We also significantly strengthened our partner collaboration throughout 2022, in anticipation of our launch and to already offer the best resort experiences and activities across our targeted locations. 

Ms. Khemjira Thakamwong, Senior Associate Partnerships, adds: “with over 50 luxury waterfront resort partners across Thailand, I am looking forward to exploring more beautiful destinations that are still under the radar and to be developed further. For example, Koh Kho Khao, north of Phuket, will be developed into a ‘smart island’ with collaboration between private and public sectors, transforming this unexplored island to become one of the world’s most sustainable and carbon neutral destinations. I am excited to work collaboratively with key stakeholders to make this project successful and for us to bring seaplane services to this and so many other locations across Thailand.”

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The trend of luxury travel with experience emerged recently and according to TAT, Thailand aims to be a destination for experiential and luxury tourism. Now, as we’re closing 2022, our pre-sales are ready for Siam Scenic. We launched the Siam Scenic brand in Q4 2022, to already serve flights ahead of the water landings, for premium ground-to-ground and scenic flights to many popular tourist attractions such as Khao Yai, Pattaya, Hua Hin and Rayong. The affordable charter flights are available to be a transportation alternative as time saver, for convenience and for an unparalleled experience.

Our CBO, Dennis Keller, concludes: “2022 once again showed that, while things certainly take time to develop, the clear interest and need for high-standard seaplane services are indubitable. Our patience and perseverance pays off in 2023. The team has done an amazing job. We now see a clear launch and growth path, and excitedly a very concrete interest also from neighboring countries and the region at large. I am excited to see our guests’ smiles as they embark on their journeys with us in the future, and for our fleet and service offering to grow step by step.”

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.
Happy new year 2023!

From the entire Siam Seaplane team