Thai Airlines Expand Their Services

4th Jun 2012

Thai carriers have been in a busy mood expanding their networks since early this year with surging demand especially in the domestic market as tourism bounces back from brief stagnation.

Thai Airways International, for instance, will launch Thai Smile, dubbed as its 'light premium' brand, especially targeted for budget conscious travelers who demand premium service while paying reasonably low price.

Initially, this year, the airline will fly to Macau and four domestic destinations such as Krabi, Surat Thani, Chiang Mai and Phuket. All routes originate from Bangkok, except for Phuket which originates from Chiang Mai.

The maiden flight of a twice-daily service to Macau will commence on July 7, from Suvarnabhumi Airport utilizing the Airbus A320. By August 16, two more Airbus A320s will be used to serve Krabi and Surat Thani from Bangkok. The service between Chiang Mai and Phuket, meanwhile, will start on October, with the arrival of the fourth aircraft.

While Thai Smile will aggressively focus its domestic and regional services, its mother airline, Thai, is having a difficult time keeping its head above water as passenger traffic from its European routes are declining. The carrier has even downgraded its frequencies and the types of aircraft used between these routes.

Travelers to Frankfurt, Madrid and Rome can have a breath of fresh air as the airline will introduce much improved in-flight products and services as they start rolling out the retrofitted Boeing 747s beginning August 1. One major upgrade economy passengers will expect from these routes is the installation of personal screens on each seat. There are, reportedly, 20 aircraft under the retrofit program since last year. With four retrofitted aircraft already in service, the other 16 shall be ready by year-end.

Starting this year, four new Airbus A320 will add to the flag carrier's current fleet. The first two of eight B777-300ERs will also enter into service later this year. By September, Thai will take delivery of its first A380 (six aircraft on order) that will serve Frankfurt starting December 1.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Airways, a full-service airliner, is aggressively adding new frequencies on its existing routes while bolstering its network via code-sharing. In April this year, it commenced its Koh Samui - Kuala Lumpur route as well as Bangkok - Lampang link. It also increased frequencies from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Phuket and from Samui to Hong Kong. It will also add three more mid-range Airbus aircraft later this year.

The low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia, on the other hand, is on a heightened mood on its expansion program by launching its IPO on the stock market. This will help them acquire fresh capital to increase their fleet within a five-year period to 48 or twice its current size.

The Orient Thai Airlines, although not as aggressive, is also planning to start service to southern Chinese cities later this year after it takes delivery of another B737.

Solar Air has no expansion plans while Kan Air commenced its twice-weekly flights to Khon Kaen.

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