International airlines return 80% of their airport slots in Thailand for the next five months

[webfact]

A traditional Thai statue wears a face mask as a campaign for travellers to prevent the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus at the departure terminal of Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on December 18, 2020. Jack TAYLOR / AFP

 

International airlines have returned as many as 80% of their airport slots at Thailand’s six international airports between October 31st and March 26th next year, indicating their uncertainty over a recovery in the aviation sector, according to Nitinai Sirisamatthakarn, the managing director of Airports of Thailand (AOT) Public Company.

 

AOT operates Suvarnabhumi, Don Muaeng, Phuket, Hat Yai, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang international airports.

 

He disclosed that the lowest point for the aviation industry in Thailand was from July to September, this year, after the Thai government suspended all regular flights as a precautionary measure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, during which average daily arrivals at the six international airports was only 50 passengers.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/international-airlines-return-80-of-their-airport-slots-in-thailand-for-the-next-five-months/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-10-25

 

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[Shuya]

With the current 'no-quaratine' rules no wonder only a few peoole will come

[fusion58]

You mean no one wants to deal with the constantly moving goal posts and jump through the interminable hoops required to enter Thailand?

 

Gee, who could’ve predicted that?

[ukrules]

They're being richly rewarded for their policy decisions.

 

Airlines were already having issues with people being randomly denied entry in Thailand for weird made up reasons.

Edited October 24, 2021 by ukrules

[fusion58]

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

International airlines have returned as many as 80% of their airport slots at Thailand’s six international airports between October 31st and March 26th next year

Wait a minute…

 

If they do this, then who will transport the million wealthy foreigners Thailand is expecting any day now? ????

[Tim207]

 

12 minutes ago, ukrules said:

They're being richly rewarded for their policy decisions.

 

Airlines were already having issues with people being randomly denied entry in Thailand for weird made up reasons.

Can you elaborate on this? i have not heard anything about it.

Edited October 24, 2021 by Tim207

[alyx]

23 minutes ago, fusion58 said:

Wait a minute…

 

If they do this, then who will transport the million wealthy foreigners Thailand is expecting any day now? ????

You seem to forget, my dear, that we own our jets. I might add that this is a smart move allowing us more parking spaces

[NanaSomchai]

42 minutes ago, fusion58 said:

You mean no one wants to deal with the constantly moving goal posts and jump through the interminable hoops required to enter Thailand?

Let me fix your post:

 

You mean no one wants to deal with the constantly moving goal posts and jump through the interminable hoops required to enter a deserted, devastated entertainment adult industry, shuttered down for good all across Thailand?

 

What a surprise!

 

Imagine jumping through all the expensive hoops only to end up on a deserted Walking Street, Soi Buakhao, Patong, Phuket, etc with a nasty curfew, no alcohol being served in restaurants/dining places and no nightlife at all.

 

What a bargain!... NOT.

[RichardColeman]

The Thailand big-wigs have been predicting 100,000+ this year after 1st November and then 14,000,000 tourists next year.

 

Now my question is if (yes if) 100,000 come at the end of this year, ignoring the airline issues, at what point is Thailand going to completely abandon its entry requirements to make the tourists come and the airlines start arriving as before.

 

Way I see it is that to hit 14 million they are going to have to have all the airlines flying into Thailand by end of March and entry requirements nearly all gone. As getting near 14,000,000 if only 100,000-200,000 come in the first Q next year, is not possible. Carrying on with the entry requirements next year will lead to less than 500,000 - and Thailand cannot afford that in 2022.

 

Drop the daft entry requirements and the airlines will start coming - airlines it appears have more grip on reality than the TAT.

 

[Sticky Rice Balls]

1 hour ago, Shuya said:

With the current 'no-quaratine' rules no wonder only a few peoole will come

Does this apply to the happy massage shops as well?   ????

[Sticky Rice Balls]

1 hour ago, fusion58 said:

You mean no one wants to deal with the constantly moving goal posts and jump through the interminable hoops required to enter Thailand?

 

Gee, who could’ve predicted that?

Any thai fortune teller......

[smedly]

but but but the sandbox was such a success and now we have sandbox open up in one week all over Thailand - it seems the airlines are as ## off with the Thai government as everyone else is 

 

No tourist is willing to put up with your silly nonsense and Thailand is "NOT" open as you keep claiming, you want foreign tourists to came here the just copy what other countries are doing - how difficult can that be - UK Green - open to tourists, one test before boarding a plane and that is it ....simple

 

The puritan Prayuth and his merry bunch of CCSA tea sippers are demolishing what is left of the Thai tourist industry brick by brick - why can they not see it 

 

If they want to open Thailand then fully open locally first then if all is well then you invite foreign tourists - right now they have it all backwards - Thailand is not open and the airlines know it and they are not playing and neither is anyone else

[smedly]

20 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Now my question is if (yes if) 100,000 come at the end of this year

If 100,000 are coming why are they not flooding into Phuket right now, since July Phuket has been as open as the rest will be in 1 weeks time - why are they not seeing this - oh people just don't want to come to Phuket, when we open up Hua Hin and Pattaya they will come flooding in ........................delusional nonsense 

[NanaSomchai]

7 minutes ago, smedly said:

The puritan Prayuth and his merry bunch of CCSA tea sippers are demolishing what is left of the Thai tourist industry brick by brick - why can they not see it

Oh trust me my friend, they see it.

 

They definitely see it, but they couldn't care less as they are not the average Somchai, they are not affected by it by any means.

[smedly]

30 minutes ago, NanaSomchai said:

Imagine jumping through all the expensive hoops only to end up on a deserted Walking Street, Soi Buakhao, Patong, Phuket, etc with a nasty curfew, no alcohol being served in restaurants/dining places and no nightlife at all.

well some head of TAT said 2 weeks ago - bars are closed forever we don't want them - that was probably one of the stupidest statements I have ever heard come from a Thai official ever and that takes some doing

[NanaSomchai]

1 minute ago, smedly said:

well some head of TAT said 2 weeks ago - bars are closed forever we don't want them - that was probably one of the stupidest statements I have ever heard come from a Thai official ever and that takes some doing

Indeed that was a daft statement.

 

Simply put, the military goons have to go and the xenophobic resentiment and rheotoric towards foreigners along with them.

[smedly]

1 hour ago, fusion58 said:

Wait a minute…

 

If they do this, then who will transport the million wealthy foreigners Thailand is expecting any day now? ????

They are coming by Buffalo ......saddle up yeeeeha

[Jerno]

39 minutes ago, smedly said:

but but but the sandbox was such a success and now we have sandbox open up in one week all over Thailand - it seems the airlines are as ## off with the Thai government as everyone else is 

 

No tourist is willing to put up with your silly nonsense and Thailand is "NOT" open as you keep claiming, you want foreign tourists to came here the just copy what other countries are doing - how difficult can that be - UK Green - open to tourists, one test before boarding a plane and that is it ....simple

 

The puritan Prayuth and his merry bunch of CCSA tea sippers are demolishing what is left of the Thai tourist industry brick by brick - why can they not see it 

 

If they want to open Thailand then fully open locally first then if all is well then you invite foreign tourists - right now they have it all backwards - Thailand is not open and the airlines know it and they are not playing and neither is anyone else

They want quality tourists who all stay at 5 star hotels and don't drink at bars.  Its simple (mindedness).

[Blumpie]

There is way way way too much uncertainty about travel.  This doesn't apply to one person because he wants to go to thailand, this is a much broader group.

Given the current restrictions not just in thailand but world wide, they will have a very difficult time getting foreign travel right now.  

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

at what point is Thailand going to completely abandon its entry requirements to make the tourists come and the airlines start arriving as before.

All eyes will be on the European and North Amerian fall and winter Covid case count. When the dust clears in the spring, then we will know if we have won the vaccination battle.

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, NanaSomchai said:

Let me fix your post:

 

You mean no one wants to deal with the constantly moving goal posts and jump through the interminable hoops required to enter a deserted, devastated entertainment adult industry, shuttered down for good all across Thailand?

 

What a surprise!

 

Imagine jumping through all the expensive hoops only to end up on a deserted Walking Street, Soi Buakhao, Patong, Phuket, etc with a nasty curfew, no alcohol being served in restaurants/dining places and no nightlife at all.

 

What a bargain!... NOT.

Before you are allowed to enter the deserted, devastated entertainment adult industry, you need to roll the dices on a Thai Covid test.

If positive, false or otherwise,  you get to serve 14 days of hard boredom at your own cost. With fewer arrivals, it is safe to assume the hotel industry will be eager to welcome these long-stay guests.

Edited October 24, 2021 by ExpatOilWorker

[Enzian]

If they wanted to return to the feudal days of old-as those who ascend to the top of the pyramid seem to want-they could not have made a better start.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

The Thailand big-wigs have been predicting 100,000+ this year after 1st November and then 14,000,000 tourists next year.

 

Now my question is if (yes if) 100,000 come at the end of this year, ignoring the airline issues, at what point is Thailand going to completely abandon its entry requirements to make the tourists come and the airlines start arriving as before.

 

Way I see it is that to hit 14 million they are going to have to have all the airlines flying into Thailand by end of March and entry requirements nearly all gone. As getting near 14,000,000 if only 100,000-200,000 come in the first Q next year, is not possible. Carrying on with the entry requirements next year will lead to less than 500,000 - and Thailand cannot afford that in 2022.

 

Drop the daft entry requirements and the airlines will start coming - airlines it appears have more grip on reality than the TAT.

 

Also, easy to fix, just change the test on arrival to one of the very reliable accurate fast response (15 - 20 minutes) tests and add the cost into the ticket price.

 

Done. 

[zzaa09]

2 hours ago, fusion58 said:

You mean no one wants to deal with the constantly moving goal posts and jump through the interminable hoops required to enter Thailand?

 

Gee, who could’ve predicted that?

They're not terribly good at international style business and trends - always comes back to bite them on the backside.

[henry213]

2 hours ago, fusion58 said:

Wait a minute…

 

If they do this, then who will transport the million wealthy foreigners Thailand is expecting any day now? ????

Yes pvt jets, what else?

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

The Thailand big-wigs have been predicting 100,000+ this year after 1st November and then 14,000,000 tourists next year.

 

Now my question is if (yes if) 100,000 come at the end of this year, ignoring the airline issues, at what point is Thailand going to completely abandon its entry requirements to make the tourists come and the airlines start arriving as before.

 

Way I see it is that to hit 14 million they are going to have to have all the airlines flying into Thailand by end of March and entry requirements nearly all gone. As getting near 14,000,000 if only 100,000-200,000 come in the first Q next year, is not possible. Carrying on with the entry requirements next year will lead to less than 500,000 - and Thailand cannot afford that in 2022.

 

Drop the daft entry requirements and the airlines will start coming - airlines it appears have more grip on reality than the TAT.

 

If they dropped all the entry requirements , I Promise you , guaranteed , every one of this posters who is now critical. will be up in arms . with the "we are all going to die" cry. 

I think we expats love to criticize the Thais as not being able to do anything right. with the insinuation that if we were in charge we would be doing thing so much better.

IMO such acritude comes from a sense of misplaced superiority.  

Given the covid situation, and the economic damage it is causing , except for the medical insurance that will deter many from coming, I think that what they proposing for re-opening the country to tourism is as good as it could be under the circumstances.

The one night stay is a realistic approach. If the plan is to be successful at generating even half the numbers  they are predicting, it would be impossible to administer the PCR tests   and have results returned while the tourists waited at the airport. I mean, can you even imagine what cluster <deleted> that would have been?  

  The only thing I would have done differently would have been to eliminate the health insurance requirement, If it turned out that that without it there were so many cases. they could have introduced it later on. 

[alex8912]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

If 100,000 are coming why are they not flooding into Phuket right now, since July Phuket has been as open as the rest will be in 1 weeks time - why are they not seeing this - oh people just don't want to come to Phuket, when we open up Hua Hin and Pattaya they will come flooding in ........................delusional nonsense 

I appreciate some of your responses but Thailand closed down mainly this April big time. It takes time to open. England is not really a stellar example of opening. . You can go on and on and on but by 12/1 and then 1/1/22 more opening will happen in Thailand Why can't you just chill out a few weeks. These threads are getting boring.  Same / same !!! Yah know. Now run along and tattle ????

[tonray]

3 hours ago, fusion58 said:

Wait a minute…

 

If they do this, then who will transport the million wealthy foreigners Thailand is expecting any day now? ????

Chinese Submarines ?

[wensiensheng]

2 hours ago, Blumpie said:

There is way way way too much uncertainty about travel.  This doesn't apply to one person because he wants to go to thailand, this is a much broader group.

Given the current restrictions not just in thailand but world wide, they will have a very difficult time getting foreign travel right now.  

True.

Start with domestic tourism, expand to SE Asia tourism and when conditions are right, go global. It’s what I would do.

 

long haul travel is pretty risky right now unless you’re a single person or couple who can afford to be very flexible with your travel pans at a moments notice.

[Dukeleto]

Now this news carry’s some weight as opposed to the drivel spouted by government officials and their figures calculated using fairy dust and amulets. When the airline industry hands back 80% of their converted landing slots that gives you are far more accurate view of the tourism figures for the next 6 months. I’ll go with the airlines on this one.