Bangkok to rival Dubai as aviation hub

[snoop1130]

 

In a meeting with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, AirAsia unveiled ambitious plans to transform Bangkok into the aviation hub of Southeast Asia, aiming to mirror the success of Dubai.

 

The low-cost carrier is urging the Thai government to slash the excise tax on jet fuel, a move it believes will further propel the country’s tourism industry.

 

AirAsia’s top brass, led by founder and CEO Tony Fernandes, engaged in their inaugural discussion with PM Srettha yesterday, January 10. The aviation group is set to present a series of proposals this week, seeking governmental support to boost Thailand’s tourism sector.

 

Key among these requests is a substantial 40% reduction in the excise tax on jet fuel for domestic routes, an anomaly that sets Thailand apart from regional counterparts like Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

Fernandes, expressing his commitment to the growth of tourism, revealed AirAsia’s firm order of 421 Airbus aircraft, with 75% of the fleet already financed. He envisioned the city’s airport as a regional hub connecting 700 million passengers to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

 

By Puntid Tantivangphaisal

Caption: Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-01-11

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[Stocky]

Another day, another hub.

 

Hub-tastic!

[retarius]

I find the headline claim hard to believe. Dubai is a real airport with a real national carrier that has really nice comfortable planes serviced by trained mechanics. 

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, retarius said:

I find the headline claim hard to believe. Dubai is a real airport with a real national carrier that has really nice comfortable planes serviced by trained mechanics. 

 

Any actual basis or fact in any of this Thai bash of yours ???

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JoseThailand]

Direct flights from Bangkok to Brazil would be nice

[StayinThailand2much]

And I thought, Bangkok, besides Singapore, had already the most flights in SEA. But, yes, without the word 'Hub'... LOL

[StayinThailand2much]

53 minutes ago, JoseThailand said:

Direct flights from Bangkok to Brazil would be nice

 

For some reasons, there are no direct flights from Asia to South America. One has to travel via North America, and the huge distance would probably require at least one stopover.

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

AirAsia’s top brass, led by founder and CEO Tony Fernandes (...)

 

This guy is a crook! His airline still owes me 13,000 baht back from 2020/2021. They cancel flights all the time, but never refund, and their website is even shunned by my card-issuing bank.

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

I find the headline claim hard to believe. Dubai is a real airport with a real national carrier that has really nice comfortable planes serviced by trained mechanics. 

 

Besides, what does a hub in the Middle East have to do with one in SEA?

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In a meeting with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, AirAsia unveiled ambitious plans to transform Bangkok into the aviation hub of Southeast Asia, aiming to mirror the success of Dubai.

Give it up please... 

[spidermike007]

Wrong. You would have to add in easy to attain regional helicopter flights, private jet flights and small plane charters throughout Thailand and the region, which Thailand does not have. Is this due to the Air Force being extremely greedy and possessive about the airspace? Is there another explanation for the lack of private flights here? 

[Emdog]

Back in the 80's wasn't Bangkok a major hub and Dubai was a pile of sand? But then all the commie countries east of here opened up so BKK lost it's "our way or the highway" status.

I could be wrong. Wouldn't be first or last time...

[newnative]

20 hours ago, retarius said:

I find the headline claim hard to believe. Dubai is a real airport with a real national carrier that has really nice comfortable planes serviced by trained mechanics. 

    Here is my experience flying Emirates, both legs, to Europe with my spouse.  We had to change planes at Dubai at your so-called 'real airport'.  We get off the plane, walk about 10 minutes.  Wanted to use the bathroom but they were all out of service on our route.  Not kidding. 

    After the long walk, we took an elevator down to another level, and another long walk.  At some point we found a working bathroom. Then we boarded a train, which took us to, I guess, a different terminal.  Get off the train.  Another long walk, another elevator, more walking, and then we went outside to the hot desert and boarded a bus that took us on a very long ride--at that point I figured we were already half-way to Europe--that finally dropped us off outside, once again in the hot desert, where our next Emirates plane was waiting.  But, at least it wasn't raining.

    At this point we entered a time warp and we were transported back to the 1960s, when you boarded a plane even at major airports by going up a set of stairs pulled up to the plane.   God knows how the other airlines are treated if this is the experience with Emirates.  Hopefully, our experience was not typical.  The airport may very well be nice--we only saw corridors, elevators, a train, a bus, and desert.

[retarius]

Just now, newnative said:

    Here is my experience flying Emirates, both legs, to Europe with my spouse.  We had to change planes at Dubai at your so-called 'real airport'.  We get off the plane, walk about 10 minutes.  Wanted to use the bathroom but they were all out of service on our route.  Not kidding. 

    After the long walk, we took an elevator down to another level, and another long walk.  At some point we found a working bathroom. Then we boarded a train, which took us to, I guess, a different terminal.  Get off the train.  Another long walk, another elevator, more walking, and then we went outside to the hot desert and boarded a bus that took us on a very long ride--at that point I figured we were already half-way to Europe--that finally dropped us off outside, once again in the hot desert, where our next Emirates plane was waiting.  But, at least it wasn't raining.

    At this point we entered a time warp and we were transported back to the 1960s, when you boarded a plane even at major airports by going up a set of stairs pulled up to the plane.   God knows how the other airlines are treated if this is the experience with Emirates.  Hopefully, our experience was not typical.  The airport may very well be nice--we only saw corridors, elevators, a train, a bus, and desert.

Have you tried Heathrow? Hub airports can involve a lot of walking. I travelled from a regional airport in the UK to Dubai to Bangkok. No issues except the flight from the UK into Dubai was late and we missed the connecting flight, the late arrival was due to air traffic control in the UK. Emirates were superb, all Bangkok passengers were booked into the Copthorne Hotel, whisked there via coach. We just walked through immigration. Got vouchers for evening meal, and breakfast and lunch on the following day.  There was no standing around and no drama. I also flew to Czechia last year on Emirates....suberb service in Business Class. My job was flying around the world and I got picky about airports and airlines. I think Suvarnabhumi is OK and is better than Don Mueang was before it closed. Thai is a joke airline in my opinion and I won't fly it after a very bad experience in 2008.It is a very bad airline that had a major corruption problem with its directors and friends filling First Class on freebies with spouses going to Tokyo  shopping with massive amounts of luggage.

Another example, I won't use Heathrow after the debacle on the opening day of T5. 

Now I'm off to the US next month, again Emirates via Dubai. A 380 best plane in the world. Emirates Business Class on A380, best business class, I have been in and I have been in an awful lot. I could have flown through Narita on ANA, but the flight from Narita was on one of the worst airlines in the world, United whose business class is shyte. 

 

[billd766]

23 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Any actual basis or fact in any of this Thai bash of yours ???

 

 

 

 

 

 

And do you have any proof that he is right or wrong, instead of your usual kneejerk reaction.

 

If you believe he is wrong, then explain to him and us all, why he is wrong, and don't forget the verifiable links and facts.

[tomazbodner]

47 minutes ago, retarius said:

Have you tried Heathrow? Hub airports can involve a lot of walking. I travelled from a regional airport in the UK to Dubai to Bangkok. No issues except the flight from the UK into Dubai was late and we missed the connecting flight, the late arrival was due to air traffic control in the UK. Emirates were superb, all Bangkok passengers were booked into the Copthorne Hotel, whisked there via coach. We just walked through immigration. Got vouchers for evening meal, and breakfast and lunch on the following day.  There was no standing around and no drama. I also flew to Czechia last year on Emirates....suberb service in Business Class. My job was flying around the world and I got picky about airports and airlines. I think Suvarnabhumi is OK and is better than Don Mueang was before it closed. Thai is a joke airline in my opinion and I won't fly it after a very bad experience in 2008.It is a very bad airline that had a major corruption problem with its directors and friends filling First Class on freebies with spouses going to Tokyo  shopping with massive amounts of luggage.

Another example, I won't use Heathrow after the debacle on the opening day of T5. 

Now I'm off to the US next month, again Emirates via Dubai. A 380 best plane in the world. Emirates Business Class on A380, best business class, I have been in and I have been in an awful lot. I could have flown through Narita on ANA, but the flight from Narita was on one of the worst airlines in the world, United whose business class is shyte. 

 

I actually enjoy United Polaris, and the service in it, just many seats have no windows, but otherwise, I found it excellent, and better than my usual favourite airline ANA.

 

But all that aside, here many are talking about service quality of the airlines. Not the airports, which is what the title of the thread is all about.

Edited January 12 by tomazbodner

[richard_smith237]

33 minutes ago, billd766 said:

And do you have any proof that he is right or wrong, instead of your usual kneejerk reaction.

 

If you believe he is wrong, then explain to him and us all, why he is wrong, and don't forget the verifiable links and facts.

 

Yes... flying in and out of Thailand about 16 times per year.....  Though regional airports and many major hubs. 

 

Thailand's Airports (Don Muang excluded) are generally very good...   Thai airways has an excellent safety record, although recently criticised a few years ago - Thai Airways is better than regional operators (Malaysian, Garuda etc) IMO of course. 

 

Comparing Thailands, Airline and Airports to Dubai is a flawed exercise... Its like Comparing Europes Airlines and Airports to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha Airports which received massive influxes of oil cash from their governments.

 

Airlines I've flow with over the past couple of years: Emirates, Qatar, BA, Thai, Bangkok Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Garuda, Swiss Air, Finn Air, Eithad, Turkish.

Airports I've flown to or through: Bangkok, Don Muang, Samui, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Geneva, Paris, Helsinki, KL, Jakarta, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Istanbul.

 

Thats plenty for me to establish that Thailands Airports are pretty good, Thailands national carrier is average and far from the implication below that Thailand does not have 'real airports; with a real national carrier, or that its planes are not comfortable and are serviced by untrained mechanics... 

 

But you want a verifiable link that the below comment is not a Thai bash....  you have just provided me with a verifiable link that you lack sense. 

 

23 hours ago, retarius said:

I find the headline claim hard to believe. Dubai is a real airport with a real national carrier that has really nice comfortable planes serviced by trained mechanics. 

 

[newnative]

29 minutes ago, retarius said:

Have you tried Heathrow? Hub airports can involve a lot of walking. I travelled from a regional airport in the UK to Dubai to Bangkok. No issues except the flight from the UK into Dubai was late and we missed the connecting flight, the late arrival was due to air traffic control in the UK. Emirates were superb, all Bangkok passengers were booked into the Copthorne Hotel, whisked there via coach. We just walked through immigration. Got vouchers for evening meal, and breakfast and lunch on the following day.  There was no standing around and no drama. I also flew to Czechia last year on Emirates....suberb service in Business Class. My job was flying around the world and I got picky about airports and airlines. I think Suvarnabhumi is OK and is better than Don Mueang was before it closed. Thai is a joke airline in my opinion and I won't fly it after a very bad experience in 2008.It is a very bad airline that had a major corruption problem with its directors and friends filling First Class on freebies with spouses going to Tokyo  shopping with massive amounts of luggage.

Another example, I won't use Heathrow after the debacle on the opening day of T5. 

Now I'm off to the US next month, again Emirates via Dubai. A 380 best plane in the world. Emirates Business Class on A380, best business class, I have been in and I have been in an awful lot. I could have flown through Narita on ANA, but the flight from Narita was on one of the worst airlines in the world, United whose business class is shyte. 

 

     Never been to the UK.   We are always in Steerage--which we find isn't too bad with Asian or Middle East carriers.   I avoid United, too, after some bad experiences.   Thai might have improved.  We had a nice flight with them from BKK to Rome and I also had a good flight with them on a 380--my favorite plane--in 2019 from Frankfort to BKK.  They were very helpful in switching my seat as I wanted an aisle seat.  The flight was almost full but they were able to make the change.  (Was not impressed with Frankfort's airport.)  I really liked Seoul's airport the one time I used it.  Flew to the US, again in 2019, from BKK with Korean and when we landed in Seoul to change planes, the gate for the next flight was just a short distance away--pity they aren't all like that!

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

Have you tried Heathrow? Hub airports can involve a lot of walking. I travelled from a regional airport in the UK to Dubai to Bangkok. No issues except the flight from the UK into Dubai was late and we missed the connecting flight, the late arrival was due to air traffic control in the UK. Emirates were superb, all Bangkok passengers were booked into the Copthorne Hotel, whisked there via coach. We just walked through immigration. Got vouchers for evening meal, and breakfast and lunch on the following day.  There was no standing around and no drama. I also flew to Czechia last year on Emirates....suberb service in Business Class. My job was flying around the world and I got picky about airports and airlines. I think Suvarnabhumi is OK and is better than Don Mueang was before it closed. Thai is a joke airline in my opinion and I won't fly it after a very bad experience in 2008.It is a very bad airline that had a major corruption problem with its directors and friends filling First Class on freebies with spouses going to Tokyo  shopping with massive amounts of luggage.

Another example, I won't use Heathrow after the debacle on the opening day of T5. 

 

While I disagreed with your earlier comment (which appeared to be a general Thai bash) I agree with much of what you write above.

 

I flew through T5 Heathrow two weeks ago... a very smooth experience, no less smooth than flying out of many Airports. 

However, UK airports in the peak summer are a disaster... just over-crowded with holiday makers and outrageous security lines. 

 

I fly Thai yearly to Japan - (and will do so again in a few weeks), that service is very reasonable, priced better that JAL and ANA, offers good baggage allowance and is perfectly comfortable. 

On the other hand, I don't want to be sat on any Airline for 12 hours in Economy Class and thus ignored the TG offer of a UK Ticket (one way for 10,000 baht when it was offering such a couple of years back).

 

I agree with what you write about Thai being managed very poorly - that doesn't make it uncomfortable, just less profitable. 

 

1 hour ago, retarius said:

Now I'm off to the US next month, again Emirates via Dubai. A 380 best plane in the world. Emirates Business Class on A380, best business class, I have been in and I have been in an awful lot. I could have flown through Narita on ANA, but the flight from Narita was on one of the worst airlines in the world, United whose business class is shyte. 

 

Qatar Q-Suites...     I also fly a lot, Qatar and Emirates top the Game in both Business and Economy, with Etihad coming a close second. 

Most other airlines I've flown on are pretty average, but not poor. 

 

The Mark of a good airline is how they treat customers when things go wrong. 

Emirates, made solid efforts but still managed to stuff up rather annoying, when encountering a 10 hour delay and missed connection it took them a further 5 hours to get my Wife out of the airport and into a hotel.... First taking her to a hotel that was full (she was exhausted by then)....  They were quick to pay the right amount of compensation (€600) but first tried to 'avoid paying for both my Son and Wife until I pointed out that a child in a seat has the same rights as an adult (Emirates paid out €1200 within a couple of weeks).

 

A similar delay with Turkish was disastrous, they lied and attempted to cheat, put us up in a sh!thole and rejected compensation claims, I went through ADR and won the €600 compensation but it took them 5 months to pay out. 

 

An issue with Airlines is how they deal with queues...   some airports just deal with this better than others, but its seems many have under-staffed counters which leads to long immigration queues and particularly in the UK, long security queues. 

 

[Celsius]

Where is Bob?

[NextG]

23 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

This guy is a crook! His airline still owes me 13,000 baht back from 2020/2021. They cancel flights all the time, but never refund, and their website is even shunned by my card-issuing bank.

Why didn’t you open a dispute via your card provider?

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, NextG said:

Why didn’t you open a dispute via your card provider?

 

Wasn't possible.

[geisha]

The problem with Thailand airports is the incompetent immigration system.

Such a waste of time . Secondly, the lack of good restaurants . A bit of extra hygiene wouldn’t go amiss either , generally. If needed I make sure I have a good meal before leaving . The lounges are generally awful. On arrival, horrendous waits at the luggage belt. I fly business and my cases have come out early on one occasion only.  I enquired after being told that business luggage comes first, and was told it wasn’t. If it’s Dubai, Singapore or EU countries the wait is rarely more than 15 mins. I don’t shop at airports generally, but Thai airports have very poor shopping choice. Very old fashioned mostly junk for sale. Suvarnabhumi could be a world class airport if it had good management. Maybe the bosses should all be sent to Zurich or the likes to see how they run things. 
 

[Highlandman]

On 1/11/2024 at 8:28 PM, StayinThailand2much said:

And I thought, Bangkok, besides Singapore, had already the most flights in SEA. But, yes, without the word 'Hub'... LOL

You mean within SE Asia? Nope. Kuala Lumpur is number two behind Singapore. There are far more services to Indonesia from KL than from Bangkok (combining the two airports), which mainly have services to Jakarta and Denpasar-Bali, with one or two Air Asia flights to Surabaya and Medan as well. 

 

Thus Bangkok is only number 3 in terms of flights and destinations in SE Asia.

[Highlandman]

9 hours ago, geisha said:

The problem with Thailand airports is the incompetent immigration system.

Such a waste of time . Secondly, the lack of good restaurants . A bit of extra hygiene wouldn’t go amiss either , generally. If needed I make sure I have a good meal before leaving . The lounges are generally awful. On arrival, horrendous waits at the luggage belt. I fly business and my cases have come out early on one occasion only.  I enquired after being told that business luggage comes first, and was told it wasn’t. If it’s Dubai, Singapore or EU countries the wait is rarely more than 15 mins. I don’t shop at airports generally, but Thai airports have very poor shopping choice. Very old fashioned mostly junk for sale. Suvarnabhumi could be a world class airport if it had good management. Maybe the bosses should all be sent to Zurich or the likes to see how they run things. 
 

Would be good if Suvarnabhumi, like Zurich, had a world class supermarket. Why doesn't Suvarnabhumi open a Tops Food Hall in the basement or something?

[Highlandman]

On 1/11/2024 at 8:31 PM, StayinThailand2much said:

 

For some reasons, there are no direct flights from Asia to South America. One has to travel via North America, and the huge distance would probably require at least one stopover.

Or you could travel via Australia, though the options are more limited that way. Still, from Bangkok to Chile would be on the same carrier (Qantas) via Sydney but it would be expensive. 

[Highlandman]

Air Asia isn't going to transform Bangkok into a hub that rivals Dubai. Yes, Bangkok is a better positioned airport for onward flights to Laos (from Dubai there aren't any), Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, but overall, Bangkok isn't what it used to be.

 

Vietnam Airlines is now a solid competitor of THAI, currently operating to 3 Australian cities and 1 US city, while THAI only flies to 2 Australian cities, though Perth will be back online by late March. THAI still dominates in Europe, but Vietnam Airlines connects IndoChina better with triangular flights and is it 5th freedom flights? (one of them anyway) such as Siem Reap-Luang Prabang and Hanoi-Vientiane-Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh.

 

You can thus take Vietnam Airlines for a journey connecting two World Heritage cities or between the capitals of these two Indochinese cities without having to route through their hubs in Vietnam.

 

THAI for its part, with its Bangkok obsession is losing a lot of regional traffic. Not everyone needs or wants to go through Bangkok. 

[soi3eddie]

On 1/12/2024 at 1:35 AM, spidermike007 said:

Wrong. You would have to add in easy to attain regional helicopter flights, private jet flights and small plane charters throughout Thailand and the region, which Thailand does not have. Is this due to the Air Force being extremely greedy and possessive about the airspace? Is there another explanation for the lack of private flights here? 

I've often wondered that. Very little general aviation in and around Thailand. Rare to see any small biz jets on the tarmac or stands (did see a Spanish registered biz jet at NST about 6 years ago though - so rare to see, I look up the registration). Private personal aviation in Thailand seems non-existent. Maybe it's an SE Asian thing with it being so far from Europe and North America. Regionally, SE Asia is pretty well connected with flights already anyhow. Suspect that Thai military airspace regulations are the main reason for little to no private planes. 

 

[soi3eddie]

Im my experience, AirAsia=Ryanair. No thanks!

 

[spidermike007]

12 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

I've often wondered that. Very little general aviation in and around Thailand. Rare to see any small biz jets on the tarmac or stands (did see a Spanish registered biz jet at NST about 6 years ago though - so rare to see, I look up the registration). Private personal aviation in Thailand seems non-existent. Maybe it's an SE Asian thing with it being so far from Europe and North America. Regionally, SE Asia is pretty well connected with flights already anyhow. Suspect that Thai military airspace regulations are the main reason for little to no private planes. 

 

I did speak to a Air Force guy years ago and he did suggest that the armed forces make it very difficult for private jet and helicopter operators to get access to airspace. I believe there's another institution that also makes things very difficult in this regard here. 

 

It's a shame as I think it holds the nation back on many levels and dramatically decreases the number of very wealthy people who would have an interest in visiting Thailand. 

 

I remember a very wealthy guy visiting Samui many years ago and he flew into Samui and was immediately told that the pilot needed to bring the plane back to Surat Thani airport and keep it there while his client stayed on Samui. They would not allow him to park the private jet at the airport, which is privately owned. Needless to say, he never returned. 

Edited January 13 by spidermike007