Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2187110/iconic-1960s-terminal-building-new-yorks-jfk-airport
Lifestyle/ Travel & Leisure

Iconic 1960s terminal building at New York’s JFK Airport to open as stylish TWA Hotel

  • Plus, Vietjet to launch new direct Hong Kong service to Vietnamese island Phu Quoc in April
  • And Thailand permanently closes smoking rooms at six major airports
The TWA Flight Center with a Lockheed Constellation in the foreground in the 1960s. The building will reopen as the TWA Hotel.

The long-awaited TWA Hotel, at New York’s JFK Airport, has just started accepting reservations for its opening date, May 15. Occupying the former TWA Flight Center, which opened in 1962, the new 512-room hotel features classic TWA (aka Trans World Airlines) branding inside and out. Nowhere is this more prominent than on a restored Constellation that has been converted into a stylish cocktail lounge.

TWA was the launch customer of the Constellation in 1945, and the airline’s owner, Howard Hughes, is said to have had a hand in the aircraft’s design. In 1946, TWA started the first scheduled round-the-world service, and soon the “Connie” became a familiar sight at airports everywhere.

Operating airlines included BOAC, Air France, Qantas, South African Airways and Brazil’s Varig. Air India used a Constellation named the Malabar Princess for its first international flight (Mumbai to London, in 1948) and featured images of the aircraft in various ways on the cover of its timetables for several years.

A chartered Air India Constellation flying from Hong Kong to Jakarta put the then colony squarely on the international media stage in April 1955, when it was brought down over the South China Sea by a bomb that had been planted on it at Kai Tak airport.

With eight crew members and 11 passengers aboard, on their way from Beijing to the Bandung Conference, in Indonesia, the Kashmir Princess was supposed to have been carrying China’s premier, Zhou Enlai. The bombing was apparently a failed assassination attempt carried out by a Kuomintang operative. The alleged bomb planter worked as a cleaner for the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (Haeco) at the time. He escaped to Taiwan soon after, and Taipei refused his requested extradition.

You can read a couple of brief first-hand recollections of the sensational but now-forgotten affair by former Haeco employees at hkmemory.org. Select The Veterans Stories, and pick number 35.


New VietJet route connects Hong Kong and Phu Quoc

Budget Vietnamese airline VietJet is best known for its calendars featuring bikini-clad models.
Budget Vietnamese airline VietJet is best known for its calendars featuring bikini-clad models.

Perhaps best known for presenting skimpily attired models on its annual calendars, in its advertising, and occasionally even on board its flights, VietJet will be connecting Hong Kong with the fast-developing Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc four times a week from April 19.

The carrier was awarded Best Ultra Low-Cost Airline for 2018 and 2019 by the Airline Ratings website, although passenger feedback in the Airlines section of TripAdvisor is generally less than flattering. Listed as VietJetAir, most of the carrier’s ratings are in the “Terrible” category, with recent review headings including “Worst airline ever”, “world’s worst airline” and “This company sucks”.

VietJet first arrived in Hong Kong in December 2016 with flights to well-served Ho Chi Minh City, but this new service will be the only non-stop link from Hong Kong to Phu Quoc. Afternoon flights will depart Hong Kong every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, returning on those days at 10.50am, for a 2.45pm arrival in Hong Kong. Visit vietjetair.com for reservations.


Deal of the week – two nights in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sunway City, in Kuala Lumpur.
Sunway City, in Kuala Lumpur.

A two-night package to Kuala Lumpur that might appeal to families with children has just gone on sale at Connexus Travel from HK$2,380 per person, twin share. All three hotels are in Sunway City, in Petaling Jaya, which is about 25 minutes from downtown KL, and offer such family-friendly attractions as the Sunway Lagoon theme park and Sunway Pyramid mall.

The cheapest hotel is the three-star Sunway Pyramid Hotel, with four- and five-star choices being the Sunway Clio Hotel (from HK$2,460) and the Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa (from HK$2,650). This package will be available for the rest of the year with a small increase in April and occasional high-season surcharges. For more information, visit the Connexus Travel website.


Thailand extinguishes smoking rooms at six major airports

Smokers can no longer light up at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Picture: Adam Nebbs
Smokers can no longer light up at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Picture: Adam Nebbs

Travelling smokers might want to polish off the last of their Krong Thips or Samits before checking in at any of six major Thai airports from now on. All smoking rooms were permanently closed at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports in Bangkok this month, along with those in Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Hat Yai.