Bangkok Airways is the First Thai Airline to be Re-Issued an AOC

28th Feb 2017

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has on Monday re-issued Bangkok Airways’ Air Operator Certificate, making this carrier the first in Thailand to get back its AOC.

CAAT Director General Chula Sukmanop presented the AOC to the airline executives and said at the time that the licensing process started on 12^th September, last year. He also said that CAAT would monitor if Bangkok Airways holds up to the standards of the AOC licensees.

Soon after Asia’s Boutique Airline, other Thailand airlines should also receive their AOCs. Namely, Thai Airways International (THAI) and Thai AirAsia are next in line and they should be re-issued their certificates in March. Six other carriers, including Nok Air, AirAsia X, Thai Smile NokScoot, K-Mile Air and Orient Thai Airlines, should get their certificates in June, 2017.

The AOC certificate is valid for five years, after which the airlines have to go through the inspection process again if they don’t want to lose them.

Bangkok Airways Adds New Codeshares and Increases Flight Frequencies

Bangkok Airways is also close to agreeing four new codeshare partnerships with four other Asian airlines. All four codeshares are planned to be signed this year.

The codeshare partnerships should help the airline with its network expansion plan and allow it to offer more routes from its hubs at Suvarnabhumi, Chiang Mai and Samui. Already, the carrier is waiting for approval on new routes it’s planning from Suvarnabhumi to Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam, between Chiang Mai and Vientiane (Laos) and Bagan (Myanmar) as well as a domestic route to Nakhon Ratchasima.

In addition, Bangkok Air has started increasing frequencies on its domestic routes. Namely, Chiang Mai-Phuket, Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai-Samui will be increased from one daily flight to two. At the same time, Phuket-Bangkok will be upped from nine to 10 daily flights and Bangkok-Chiang Mai from eight to nine flights per day.

When it comes to international and regional flights, the airline will increase frequencies on Bangkok to Vientiane and Chiang Mai to Mandalay from one to two flights per day and from six flights per week to one flight per day, respectively.