Thai Airways launches flight-themed restaurant amid Covid-19 impact
Bangkok, Sep 4 (efe-epa).- Thailand’s national flag carrier has launched an airline-themed restaurant this week to imbue diners with a flavor of sky travel without having to leave the ground.
Most of the airline’s flights remain grounded due to the impact of Covid-19.
“Please fasten your seat belt, fold the table in front of your seat, adjust your seat position, raise your window shades and ready to take off to discover dining in an atmosphere you’ve never experienced before,” an advertisement published on Facebook last week said.
Thai Airways set up the airline-themed restaurant on the second floor of its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital. It opens between 9am and 2pm from Wednesday to Friday.
The pop-up restaurant offers a variety of Thai and international inflight dishes created by their top chefs, such as Penne Pasta Carbonara at 129 baht ($4.12), Chicken Tikka and Naan Bread for 145 baht, and Bak Kut Teh (pork rib) for 180 baht.
To enter the restaurant, diners ascend the typical airplane stairs and are greeted by staff members dressed as flight attendants. After the meal, they are gifted a boarding pass as a souvenir.
“We created a new restaurant trying to model a aircraft cabin with decorations of business-class, first-class and economy-class seats, including some spare parts of the aircraft… so that customers can experience travelling without them ever having to leave the ground,” the statement added.
Even though most of commercial flights, especially international routes, were grounded as a result of the pandemic, the national air carrier has operated repatriation flights to ferry stranded foreigners home as well as return Thai nationals who were stuck abroad.
According to the airline’s Executive Vice President, Wiwat Piyaworoj, Thai Airways plans to expand its repatriation flight services from 18 September to include destinations such as Munich, Frankfurt, Taipei and Hong Kong.
Thai Airways filed for a rehabilitation plan with The Central Bankruptcy Court last May and is now awaiting the court’s decision on 14 September to see whether it can operate under its proposed reconstruction.EFE-EPA
