Bangkok Airways to Introduce New Routes

30th Dec 2012

Next year, Bangkok Airways is planning to introduce two additional routes to its regional flights, the Bangkok-Krabi and Bangkok-Mandalay routes.

Officials of Bangkok Airways are planning to launch twice daily flights to Krabi starting April, and four flights weekly to Mandalay beginning September, both next year. These destinations were chosen due to increased demand, and competitors like Thai Asia Asia have already took advantage of it.

Bangkok Airways, nevertheless, is more interested in its operations in Koh Samui, although the airline still needs to seek permission from authorities regarding its plans of increasing the number of flights allowed through the airport. At present, only 38 flights a day are allowed, and Bangkok Airways is planning to raise it to 50. This can be done by increasing in airport's flight times by one hour, from the previous 6am-10pm schedule going to 6am-11pm schedule.

According to airline executives, out of the 38 flights permitted for the airport, 31 are operated by Bangkok Airways, while the remaining seven are from Thai Airways, Malaysia's Firefly, and Singapore's Silkair. The request for additional flight will be highly important for the airline's quest to launch more routes to popular international destinations. Apart from Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Bangkok Airways is planning to add Shanghai and Taipei as potential links with Koh Samui. Quoting one of the airline's executive, "We want to diversify our international market (from Koh Samui) so as not to put all our eggs in one basket."

Bangkok Airways is set to celebrate its 45th anniversary next year, and operations at the Koh Samui airport have been as cash cow for the company. It is said that the services to and from Koh Samui are on a very high demand, as evidenced by the number of hotel rooms there, which is already at 10,000 and still counting.

Adding more flights to the existing ones will therefore be a great strategy for the airline. Such increase will be accomodated by brand new A319 and A320, which are set to join the airline's fleet next year. Just recently, the airline acquired two A320 jets, increasing the number of its aircraft to 21. At present, Bangkok Airways is operating on 120 daily flights to 20 local and international destinations.

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