Air Asia Makes Inaugural Flight To China

Thai low-cost airline makes inaugural flight to China

XIAMEN (China): -- AirAsia today began the first Thai budget airline to offer flights to China, with an inaugural flight from Bangkok to Xiamen.

According to the airline’s chief executive, Mr. Thassapol Balewelt, Xiamen has been targeted both for its status as an important economic powerhouse and due to the large numbers of immigrants from Xiamen who have settled in Thailand and Malaysia.

An initial promotion will see 8,888 seats offered at Bt1,899 for a one-way flight, with daily flights from 25 April until 29 October.

After this period fares will be increased to around Bt3,000.

The airline hopes that the flights will run to 75 percent passenger capacity within two months of launching operations, and in the future plans to launch another 4-5 routes to major Chinese destinations, including Kunming.

This year Thai AirAsia will procure four or five new aircraft for its fleet to cope with rising passenger demand, giving the airline a total fleet of around 10-11 craft.

But Mr. Thassapol warned that plans by Airports of Thailand Public Co., Ltd. to raise airport landing fees could prove crippling to the Thai aviation industry, particularly low-cost airlines, as they would make Thai airports unable to compete with cheaper airports in places like Singapore.

--TNa 2005-03-18