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Thai Smile to be Converted into a Regional Airline
15th Aug 2012
Thai Smile Managing Director, Woranate Laprabang, revealed that the low-cost carrier will be converted into a regional airline.
The airline's long-term goal is to draw less than 30% of its total revenue from its domestic services while the remainder will be derived from its regional network such as China, Southeast Asia and India.
The game plan is to take over some Thai Airways routes, study the possibility of opening new routes and finally make a new hub to better serve the growing market.
Though Thai Smile is not a low-cost carrier, the airline is certainly not groomed to rival its parent airline. It has its own distinct brand, called lite premium, which has its own niche. The business model to be adopted by Thai Smile will be akin to Singapore Airline's SilkAir and Cathay Pacific's Dragon Air.
First off, come August 16, Thai Smile will fly to the Thai resort town of Krabi in the south, effectively taking over the route from its parent airline. The service will use the narrow-bodied Airbus A320 aircraft that seats up to 174 passengers. It will start with four times daily service initially but it will be stretched up to five times daily during winter season. The peak month of January will see the possibility of increasing its frequency up to 6 times a day.
The airline is on the lookout for immediate expansion to regional destinations such as Da Nang in Vietnam, Luang Prabang in Laos, Siem Reap in Cambodia and Surabaya in Indonesia. The carrier is also looking at the possibility of mounting flights to three Chinese cities of Chongqing, Hangzhou and Shenzen. Another possible overseas destination is Ahmedabad in Northwest India.
Regarding the opening of a second base, Thai Smile targets Phuket as its most probable candidate, being Thai's most popular resort destination. Possible routes originating from Phuket will be Guangzhou in China, Mumbai in India and Singapore.
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