Phuket Aviation in 2010

28th Dec 2010

Phuket aviation in 2010 can be summed up as the year of the growth in direct flights from new destinations, the surging power of the low cost carriers (LCCS), the Australian and Russian connections and air traffic into Phuket heading for a new annual record.

Importantly, there were no major incidents or crashes.

November reflected the growth pattern for the year. International passenger arrivals for that month were up almost 50 percent on 2009, with the overall total, including domestic arrivals, for the month 23.4 percent. With the upward trend continuing Phuket International Airport was projecting a new, record number of arrivals of around 7.2 million people.

THAI's announcement of a commercial partnership with Singapore based Tiger Airways made headlines, as did THAI's hefty fare increases early in the year.

LCCs Nok Air and one-two-go had mixed years, with the former emerging from a major restructure and the latter actually coming off the Phuket route and being absorbed into its Orient Thai Airlines parent. Bangkok Airways continued to steadily consolidate its boutique airline reputation.

It was pleasing to see that Happy Air, a Phuket owned startup airline in 2009, survived and grew. It now flies to places like Hua Hin, Hat Yai, Nan and Langkawai, Malaoysia with a fleet of three Saab 340 turboprop aircraft, up from one last year. And Firefly, the Malaysian Airlines subsidiary, also grew its Phuket to Penang business during the year. Both are great visa run airlines.

But it was the continued surge in carriers like AirAsia and the Virgin Group from Australia that caught the travelling public's imagination with a mixture of competitive fares and more direct flights.

AirAsia's upward success story got better with its opening up of direct flights between Phuket and its main South East Asian destination rival, Bali.

V Australia, Virgin's hybrid LCC/Legacy carrier launched direct flights from major cities but, unfortunately in early 2011 will cease operations allegedly because it cannot make money on the routes.

However, in November Strategic Airlines of Brisbane, Australia, announced direct flights to Phuket from Brisbane and Melbourne starting in February.

Virgin's LCC, Pacific Blue, will continue direct flights but only via Perth, into Phuket. Jetstar continued its upward trajectory as did Tiger Airways, soon to enter into a commercial relationship with THAI that should boost its network even more.

Even more exciting for Phuket's beleaguered hospitality businesses was the news that Qatar Airways, a quality Middle Eastern airline out of Doha, started direct flights via Kuala Lumpur and Hainan Airlines, from the southern area of China, direct flights via Beijing.

In December Mehan Air out of Tehran, Iran announced it would start direct flights using a 243 seat Airbus A300-600.

Of the more established airlines, carriers like DragonAir caught the wave of increased Hong Kong visitors to Phuket. In 2009 around 100,000 Hong Kong tourists travelled here, many them on the DragonAir direct flights. Thai Airways also got into the act with direct Hong Kong-Bangkok-Phuket flights.

The Russians also kept on coming. In July Pega Touristik, a Russian tour operator, said it would increase charter flights to Bangkok and Phuket from eight Russian cities, using a Boeing 757 for daily flights to Phuket. Rossiya Russian Airlines, based in St Petersburg announced that from August, 2010 it would start scheduled flights to Moscow to connect with Thai Airways International to Phuket, via Bangkok.

Aeroflot, the Russian national carrier, announced in October it would start three weekly flights directly from Moscow to Phuket. Transero, a scheduled and charter carrier, announced it would fly charters to Phuket from St Petersburg and other Russian cities. In January-June, 2010 305,000 Russians visited, up 102.28 percent on 2009.

TUIFLY, the large charter group, started direct high season Berlin, Germany-Phuket flights from 14 December through to late April, 2011 and from Munich to Phuket on 11 December. Blu-Express out of Rome, Italy, also flies to Phuket via Bangkok.

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