RAK Airways set to launch first long-haul route

RAK Airways, Ras Al Khaimah's state carrier, said on Monday that it is planning to launch its first long-haul route in June.

The airline, which relaunched services in October 2010, said its 12th route would be to Bangkok, Thailand.

Effective June 1, RAK Airways will offer four non-stop flights a week to Bangkok, the airline said in a statement.

The UAE leads the region in terms of number of visitors to Thailand ahead of the rest of the GCC.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, 110,000 tourists from the emirates visited the country in 2011 spending a total of about AED6.7m.

RAK Airways re-launched operations in 2010 with two routes to Jeddah, and Calicut, India.

Since then, the airline has focused on extending its route network across the GCC, Indian sub-continent and North Africa.

The introduction of its' Bangkok route marks the carrier's entry into Far East Asia.