Night of the Iguana: Old Fogies with young Thai Nubiles. Do they mix?

[akqjt]

Seems like Thai Airways has non-stop flights from CM to Phuket, but the return trip always has a stop. Anyone know why this is? Are there airlines that have non-stops both ways?

[ovenman]

Seems like Thai Airways has non-stop flights from CM to Phuket, but the return trip always has a stop. Anyone know why this is?

No idea, and it has been like this forever.

Are there airlines that have non-stops both ways?

None.

[tigerbeer]

perhaps airasia might do this in the near future.

[ovenman]

perhaps airasia might do this in the near future.

I would think that CNX-HKT and v.v. would be a good route for AirAsia.

[bojo]

Seems like Thai Airways has non-stop flights from CM to Phuket, but the return trip always has a stop. Anyone know why this is? Are there airlines that have non-stops both ways?

Bangkok airways flys direct to Koh Samui from Chiang Mai most months but only direct back some months and schedules seem to change at the airlines whim.

For my experience tourists visiting a few destinations in Thailand will do the North first, trekking and so forth and then go to relax on the beaches further South. They invariably don't return to the north and head straight to BKK for a flight out of the country.

regards Bojo

[Ricardo]

perhaps airasia might do this in the near future.

I would think that CNX-HKT and v.v. would be a good route for AirAsia.

Agreed, Thai can only fill a wide-bodied Airbus profitably in one direction, but AA ought to get good loads for a daily narrow-body B737 both ways, especially with their lower fares.

What other new routes might a LCC operate, from Chiang Mai, to get respectable loads, any ideas ? We've got KL & Singapore, domestically BKK, ignoring the minor routes flown by SGA in-association with Nok Air.

But Hong Kong Express failed, on the direct route to HKG, and other routes to Japan/Korea/Taiwan seem to be mostly charters. Samui would be a good one, but only if a low-cost-carrier were to slash the fares, which Bangkok Airways would never do, sadly.

Perhaps Air Asia might look at direct point-to-point routes from other hubs of their network, as RyanAir or Easyjet do in Europe, or do you think CNX is condemned to always be an outlying end-of-the-line destination, rather than a hub in its own right ?

Edited February 25, 2009 by Ricardo

[tigerbeer]

perhaps airasia might do this in the near future.

I would think that CNX-HKT and v.v. would be a good route for AirAsia.

Agreed, Thai can only fill a wide-bodied Airbus profitably in one direction, but AA ought to get good loads for a daily narrow-body B737 both ways, especially with their lower fares.

What other new routes might a LCC operate, from Chiang Mai, to get respectable loads, any ideas ? We've got KL & Singapore, domestically BKK, ignoring the minor routes flown by SGA in-association with Nok Air.

But Hong Kong Express failed, on the direct route to HKG, and other routes to Japan/Korea/Taiwan seem to be mostly charters. Samui would be a good one, but only if a low-cost-carrier were to slash the fares, which Bangkok Airways would never do, sadly.

Perhaps Air Asia might look at direct point-to-point routes from other hubs of their network, as RyanAir or Easyjet do in Europe, or do you think CNX is condemned to always be an outlying end-of-the-line destination, rather than a hub in its own right ?

sadly, we don't have Tiger Airways doing CNX-Singapore anymore. CNX-KL on Air Asia is a very popular flight especially for the Chinese Malaysians who love spending their holidays here in Chiang Mai. I think Thai AirAsia is however concentrating more on starting International flights from BKK to India and China. However CNX-HKT would be so lovely to have (fingers crossed).

Bangkok Air got 6 new planes yesterday and today we get Nok Air boasting about the possibility of leasing 2 more old banged up 737's whereas AA have 40 A320 jets on their order list of purchase! Nothing comes close to AA's model of business. GOod on them.

THAI Airways? Something about them being given 90 days to sort out their financial problems?

Malaysian Airlines have really made a turnaround for the past year. They seem to be doing well. You could actually get some good prices on their website. Check it out.

[ovenman]

Perhaps Air Asia might look at direct point-to-point routes from other hubs of their network, as RyanAir or Easyjet do in Europe, or do you think CNX is condemned to always be an outlying end-of-the-line destination, rather than a hub in its own right ?

AirAsia was supposedly going to make Chiang Mai a hub a while back and use CNX as a springboard for flights into southern China. Nothing has ever come of that (obviously) and I've never heard anything concrete as to why not. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that gate capacity at CNX is a problem. Maybe after this latest round of airport construction is completed...

I would think that Chiang Mai-Kunming would be a good route for AirAsia. Not sure about anywhere else domestically. They could always try destinations in Burma and Laos, but there already exists some competition on those routes.

[ovenman]

sadly, we don't have Tiger Airways doing CNX-Singapore anymore.

...a route that was very quietly dropped. Tiger Airways claimed that it was due to higher landing fees at Chiang Mai but that always struck me as bogus. Bottom line for any airline is that you don't make money unless the planes are in the sky, and in the case of the low cost carriers who charge more or less the same fare regardless of route, the more flights they can fly on a daily basis is a huge factor in terms of profitability. Chiang Mai is just that much further from Singapore that Tiger could probably put the same 737 to use on another shorter route and get in another turn daily.