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High flier up above the clouds
Issue of TTG Asia Jan 23 - Jan 29 1998
The real Luzi Matzig
Diethelm Travel's general manager, Luzi Matzig, may be down-to-earth at work.
But he becomes a high flier once out of the office - up to 7,600m high actually when he heads up in his Piper Malibu aircraft.
General manager of Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya, Mr Alois Fassbind, said: "He likes a challenge and is very talented. He definitely knows what he is doing when flying his aircraft."
Mr Matzig will sometimes mix business with pleasure, flying around the region for meetings. But this can prove difficult in a region which is at best suspicious of small aircraft and at worst, paranoid about them.
He said: "It is difficult to fly in Indochina, with Laos being the most difficult to secure permission to fly over. And it can also be expensive. I once had to pay a US$2,000 landing fee in Kunming because they charge the same for a small aircraft as they do for a big one."
He earned his first flying licence in Thailand 17 years ago and has since received two more in the US and his native country, Switzerland.
Working as an international pilot was Mr Matzig's first career goal. But Swissair declined to hire him as a pilot because he had only one kidney. He then quickly changed his career plans.
Even so, Mr Matzig still landed in the travel industry.
He arrived in Thailand in 1971 and has been in the country ever since, although his original plan was to only stay two to three years
in Thailand.
Bangkok was a different city then. The Vietnam War was changing the face of Thailand as soldiers were there on vacation. Having explored much of Thailand in the early days, much of it on a motorcycle and sometimes on foot, Mr Matzig has had a first-hand look at the changes around the country.
A round trip to Three Pagoda Pass took a week in the early 1970s, but now that same journey can be done in a day. Mr Matzig said: "First, we took the train to Kanchanaburi, then hiked to the river. From there, we negotiated a longtail boat up the river, then on foot and the back of an elephant the rest of the way."
Mr Fassbind, who is a longtime friend, said: "He is very dynamic. That's why he is doing so well with Indochina." The two first met in 1972 when they were both HAM radio operators.
After a flight to Indonesia several years ago, Mr Fassbind became the unofficial caterer to Air Matzig.
One thing is clear though, Mr Matzig has always put work before his first love. He is often in the office until midnight. And even when he flies, averaging approximately 100 hours a year, much of that is for work.
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