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Air Asia Drops Phuket to Ubon Ratchathani Service
3rd Oct 2012
Thai AirAsia has decided to cease its service between Phuket and Ubon Ratchathani claiming the route is not lucrative enough to keep it in the network.
Aside from the Phuket-Ubon service, the carrier also stops its service between Phuket and Bali in Indonesia effective from October 1. Affected passengers were given options either to take flights through Bangkok (or Kuala Lumpur for the Bali route) or they get refunds.
As a result of the suspension of the services, affected passengers were surprised to learn the news and vented their ire on the airline.
A call center agent of the airline told the Phuket News that the primary reason for the suspension of the twin routes was due to their unprofitability.
The airline's CEO, Tassaporn Bijleveld, announced recently that they will launch a new service from Bangkok to Xi'an in China starting November 16 this year. This will make AirAsia the lone carrier to fly to one of the oldest cities in China which is home to the world-famous Terra Cotta army.
The Phuket News received on Wednesday a confirmation from the airline that the cancellation of the Phuket-Bali service is a permanent termination. The airline said that they are giving priority to China as they find it more profitable to fly there.
Apart from the termination of its services out of Thai hub, its parent airline also canceled the following routes: Kuala Lumpur-London, Kuala Lumpur-Christchurch, Kuala Lumpur-Paris as well as all its Mumbai and New Delhi flights.
According to Thai AirAsia officials, the termination of the services was particularly due to some adjustments in the airline's route network in order to keep them more competitive and focus in markets that are more commercially viable to sustain their operation. They would like to focus in markets which are more lucrative such as China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australasia. These countries offer more sustainable business that Thai AirAsia would like to concentrate now and in the years ahead.
An airline official also revealed to Phuket News that the cancellation of the Phuket-Udon service was just a temporary suspension following a low take up of seats for the time being. The flight between the two cities had been suspended for weeks ago and is now under the carrier's seasonal schedule.
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