Thai Smile to Fly to Phuket Next Month

18th Sep 2012

AirAsia Plane

Thai Airway's premium brand airline, Thai Smile, is set to start next month its Phuket-Chiang Mai and Phuket-Bangkok once-daily flights and another daily flight between Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Over the end of next month, the once-daily frequency between Bangkok and Chiang Mai shall be increased to two times daily.

A daily service to Singapore is already on the pipeline as it takes delivery of two additional Airbus A320 aircraft early next year. The planned service will originate from Phuket, its second hub, making it the 4th budget airline crowding the Phuket-Singapore route after Jetstar Airways, Thai AirAsia and Tiger Airways.

The airline has already taken over the service from its parent airline, Thai Airways, the routes originating from Bangkok to Surat Thani and Krabi.

As early as April next year, Thai Airways will give up its twice-daily flights between Bangkok and Ubon Ratchathani and three-times daily service between Bangkok and Udon Thani to Thai Smile.

Thai Smile is currently flying to Macau from Bangkok, its sole overseas destination so far.

The airline, however, has not confirmed other long-haul flights it is planning to launch in the near future.

According to Woranate Laprabang, Thai Smile's Managing Director, they originally considered a direct service between Phuket and Mumbai, India early on. However, they realized later that the market between the two cities is too small to open the route.

Another planned service between the Thai capital and Hyderabad, India was also called off due to the lack of space for cargo in Airbus A320 aircraft.

Currently, Thai Smile has an all-Airbus fleet of three A320s. It has placed orders of 8 more aircraft of the same type which are expected to be delivered from 2012 through 2013.

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