Phuket News / Island’s Latest Updates

The no-frills carrier Thai AirAsia (TAA) this week started to rationalise its network by dropping loss-ridden routes, increasing frequency on trunk routes and betting on new destinations. This week, TAA began service between Bangkok and Langkawi in Malaysia, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Khon Kaen where it has struggled to fill seats since opening service earlier this year.

But in the immediate future, the Malaysia-based carrier is embarking on three new routes: Phuket-Singapore, Bangkok-Ranong and Bangkok-Jakarta, said TAA chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld. AirAsia is Southeast Asia’s largest low-cost carrier.

The airline is also stepping up flights on its existing network, particularly trunk routes, such as Bangkok to Phuket and Chiang Mai and Shenzhen in China. It hopes that the move will help it to tap high-season traffic that starts next month.

Mr Tassapon revealed the new flight plan for the first 40 A320 jetliners scheduled to enter into service tomorrow.

The company also said that daily service to Khon Kaen and Nakhon Si Thammarat that started in August would cease today.

AirAsia will start a daily Phuket-Singapore flight on Nov 5, introducing Bangkok-Ranong in mid-November at three times a week, and daily Bangkok-Jakarta flights in December.

The airline is adding an additional daily flight from Bangkok to Shenzhen, two more daily flights on Bangkok-Phuket and three more flights on Bangkok-Chiang Mai.

TAA is also planning to start offering regular service from Bangkok to Kathmandu in the next 12-18 months, said Mr Tassapon.

Next year, the airline hopes to start service to five other Chinese cities including Kuilin, Chengdu and Chongqing in a major move to ramp up its Chinese coverage. The company already has had routes to Macao, Xiamen and Shenzhen since July.

The network expansion would be supported by the delivery of an additional A320 that can seat 180 passengers and fly up to 5,700 km.

The second A320 is due in November, the third in December, and three more in February, July and August next year.

The remaining 40 A320s would be delivered over three years at the rate of six units a year.As published on Bangkok Post