Jetstar considers Bangkok as its Asian hub

The Bangkok Post has reported that Bangkok has been put under consideration by Jetstar to be positioned as the airline’s regional hub in Asia for its long-haul flights to Europe from Australia. Bangkok has been selected amongst four other cities in Asia including; Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh.

The Asian hub will function to service the additional European destinations that Jetstar hopes to add to its services, including Athens, Rome, Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and Milan. The one obstacle that Bangkok faces in the selection process is the high aircraft turnaround charges in place at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The fees stand at double of those charged in Kuala Lumpur. Discussions on a possible reduction in airport costs with Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) have also been in place for months.

''We need to make sure that if we operated out of Bangkok to Europe, Bangkok offers as competitive a proposition as Kuala Lumpur and Changi,'' said group general manager at Jetstar, Bruce Buchanan.

Buchanan also advised that Bangkok does in fact offer appeal to Jetstar, offering a position that is close to Europe, facilitating Jetstar's long-haul and short-haul operations and housing Jetstar's international crew which involves more than 100 cabin attendants.

Buchanan also does not expect the airline to make a final decision about reducing fee charges any time soon. ''If not (Bangkok), we start somewhere else. But that does not mean that we are not going to operate through Bangkok (for European routes) in the future,'' said Buchanan.

Jetstar will reach its final decision by December 2007 and will launch its long haul service from Australia to Europe mid 2009.

Peter

Maybe this will put Don Muang back in the running as a full time budget terminal.

Landing fees at Don Muang were 1650US$.

Suvarnabhumi 1850$.

Changi 2200$. Hong Kong 2400$.

Tokyo Narita - 8200$. No wonder no low cost airline flies to/from it.

Take what you read in the media with a grain of salt...anything can be considered by anyone...wait for the official announcement. Reminds me of the time the Post was reporting with credibility that Walt Disney was going to build its next Disneyland in Khon Keon (no kidding) or the the hidden stash of Yamashita's gold from WWII was hidden in a cave in Thailand (because a monk had visions of it )

Would Thailand have more business on that type of flight than say Changi?

More budget travellers!

fares from/to bangkok are more expensive to the others in the region - even if Bangkok charges are higher.

good news for us - more competition means cheaper fares

It will be an interesting story to follow.

Airlines manage to crack deals with airports throughout the world. Ryanair & Easyjet being 2 that spring to mind.

Hopefully the authorities will see some sense.

Maybe this will put Don Muang back in the running as a full time budget terminal.

thats what I am saying since the first day Don Mueang reopened..... and it WILL happen within the next 12 months......

Don Mueang will be the Hub of the Budget-Airlines, be it domestic or International, and the CobraSwamp will be the one for the big carriers, Alliances and connecting flights.....

and at THAI AIRWAYS they will be very happy as soon as the new government makes such a decision, because then they can go back to the CobraSwamp Airport without admitting one of their biggest mistakes of the past decades (which was returning to DMK with most of their domestic flights and loosing tenthousands of passengers to AirAsia), and therefore, not loosing face.....

so buy AOT shares my friends.

so buy AOT shares my friends.

can

not

BUY,

BAHT

too

HIGH