Thai AirAsia

[Greg_B 306]

Thai AirAsia is spreading its wings to the Indochina market, becoming the first no-frills airline to operate to that region.

 

The sister airline of the Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia intends to fly from Bangkok to Vientiane, Phnom Penh and Hanoi later this year. The move reflects a desire to seek new route opportunities in destinations that full-service carriers such as Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways International tapped for some time.

 

Thai AirAsia, owned 51% by Shin Corp and 49% by AirAsia, has just received approval from the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration to operate up to seven flights a week on the Hanoi-Bangkok route starting in the next three months.

 

Plans are also afoot for Thai AirAsia to expand its southern China network with flights to two new destinations including Kunming from Bangkok within this year, pending approval from authorities.

 

In that region, the airline is also operating scheduled services from Bangkok to Macau and Xiamen, where it started flying on April 25 to become the first foreign budget carrier granted landing rights in mainland China.

 

China is at the centre of regional route expansion of AirAsia and its Thai sister carrier as it moves to cash in on the significant air travel market, particularly among leisure travelers.

 

By September, AirAsia plans to start flights to Guangzhou, Nanjing, Kunming, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing and Hangzhou, the company said.

 

AirAsia also plans to fly to China from Penang and Kota Kinabalu. It already offers a service to China from its home base, Kuala Lumpur international airport.

 

Singapore-based low cost carriers Jetstar Asia and Valuair are reportedly queuing up for landing rights to major cities in mainland China, industry sources said.

 

Another Thai AirAsia service likely to take off soon is Bangkok-Manila, according the airline insiders.

 

Thai AirAsia, which started flying about about 18 months ago, now operates point-to-point flights from Bangkok to six regional destinations including Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang _ all in Malaysia _ and Singapore.

 

At home, it flies to eight Thai cities _ Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Hat Yai, Phuket and Narathiwat.

 

The airline does not plan to introduce additional local routes now but instead is looking more at raising the frequencies on the existing routes.

 

Frequencies and timing of the new international routes are being worked out as the airline is assessing travel demand, particularly on the budget segment.

 

To support the expanding network, Thai AirAsia is adding four Boeing 737-300 jets to its existing fleet of six aircraft of the same model in August this year.

 

Earlier this year, AirAsia made history by signing a purchase contract for 60 A320s plus a further 40 options. This is an increase of an additional 20 aircraft on top of the original purchase agreement for 40 A320s order plus 40 options under the memorandum of understanding signed on in December 2004.

 

Deliveries of the first A320s will commence in late 2005 and continue through until 2011. The AirAsia airlines now operates 28 Boeing 737-300s.