Airliners-India

ameya

The tale of rarest tail yet – Lao Airlines

Full TR with pictures on the link.

Call it by choice or rather the lack of it, I found myself on Lao Airlines ATR72-500 (QV 314) for a short hop to Luang Prabang from Hanoi. This definitely is the rarest of airlines I have travelled so far. With a fleet of 11 aircraft (4 A320, 7 ATR), the airline serves 21 destinations.

Laos is a land locked country located in Indo-china and the population of the entire country is lesser than the population of the city I live in.

Booking

The airline has a website which is very basic but lets you book with USD, Lao Kip or SGD. While the website has an organization chart it lacks three basic things – Online check-in, Flight status and View booking. Our booking was done by Travel Agent.

At the airport

The Nội Bài International Airport is 45 minutes from Ha Noi city and most of the road is a six-lane express way. The airport has been newly renovated and has seen addition of new terminals. The second busiest airport in Vietnam, it shares its runway with an active Air force station of Vietnamese Air Force.

Some online sources mentioned that the check-in closes two hours to departure for Lao Airlines & we made our way to the airport very early and to the counters of Lao Airline, only to be told that we should come at 1600 hours, since they were accepting passengers for Vientiane. We decided to kill some time by visiting a restaurant which had good views of the apron. Apart from some fighter flying which kept us entertained, other sightings were the Vietnam Airlines B787s and A350s.

To occupy the table a little longer we ordered for Butter, Jam & Toast from the menu. Little did we know that it would be served separately!

We made our way to the counters at 1605 and the check-in was relatively quick. The staff glanced at our Indian passports and had to cross check if we are eligible for visa on arrival and issued the boarding card.

The immigration process was quick and so was the security. The new terminal is over a kilometer long with seating area on one side and retail, food & beverages on the other. Our boarding was from Gate#25 which was located on the ground floor.

We were bussed to the ATR72-500 waiting at remote bay between the domestic and international terminal.
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stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

- no 'view booking' option yikes.
- butter jam and toast Laughing

- I like the blue meal box .... was it a local sweet? yum I love weird local deserts.
- Did they turn off the terminal lights when you stepped out Wink

- What did you do in Laos ..... can you share some pics?
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Trust the Joshis to travel to off-beat exotic places on exotic airlines!
The non-aviation part (specifically food!) was funny, and yet interesting.
And yes...I am with stealthpilot on this one: we want to read more about the non-aviation part as well!
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 3:35 pm Post subject:

Thanks a lot. Here is the link to the blog written by TW. Has links to the other ones as well.

Xin Chao Vietnam
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Certainly a unique experience ... within Vietnam so to say...

Loved the meal box ... at first looks like Gulf Air or something Razz

Lovely pics .. thanks for sharing