Thai Air Asia to Offer Direct Flights to Mandalay

15th Aug 2012

Thai Air Asia officials confirmed that the airline will commence its direct flight from Bangkok to Mandalay beginning October 4 this year.

According to company officials, the low-cost carrier is taking the lead in serving routes considered as low-density routes in preparation to the official launch of Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.

The Bangkok-Mandalay service will start with four times weekly, according to Thai Air Asia CEO, Tassapon Bijleveld.

The airline is expecting to fill 70-75% of its capacity between the two cities in each direction for the first three months. The airline is pessimistic that it will eventually increase to 80-85% after that.

The official further said that the carrier is also planning to offer flights from Bangkok to Myanmar's capital of Naypyidaw as well as to Bagan. The budget airline currently flies to Rangoon three times daily.

According to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the service aims to provide seamless movement of air travelers between cities across the vast and lucrative Asean market as contained in the AEC trade agreement. A joint cooperation plan is currently undertaken by Burmese authorities and TAT to promote tourism potentials from both countries.

In 2011, Burmese tourists to Thailand numbered about 110,000 while a disproportionate number of Thais, 62,000, visited Myanmar. However, TAT officials predict that Thai tourists going to Myanmar will grow by 10% next year and 13 percent thereafter.

It has been widely reported that more international airlines are planning to mount flights to Myanmar by October this year.

International airlines which are going to start their respective services to Myanmar include Hong Kong's Dragon Air, Japan's All Nippon Airways, Qatar Airways, Korean Airlines as well as Eva Air of Taiwan.

Eva Air will offer thrice-weekly service to Rangoon starting October 9, 2012. Japan's All Nippon Airways, meanwhile, will launch its three-time weekly service to Rangoon on October 15 also this year while a charter flight between the Japanese capital and Rangoon is also considered. It will also extend its service to Naypyidaw-Yangoon-Hanoi route from Tokyo using its Boeing 767 aircraft.

Qatar Airways will also make a comeback to Rangoon, starting October 3, 2012, after it suspended flights back in 2008.

Airline officials from Germany and Bangladesh are also planning to launch direct service to Rangoon. Likewise, direct service between Manila and Rangoon will also be launched before the year ends.

There are currently 13 international airlines serving Rangoon including Air Asia, Air China, Bangkok Airways, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Airlines, Jetstar Asia, Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, SilkAir and Vietnam Airlines.

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