sunnymarky Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 So strange that Airasia or any other budget airline does not fly to Laos /Vientiane. Its close to border and many visitors from Thailand and people from Laos wanting to go Bangkok. There must some reason other than the prospect of not enough customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattayaParent Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Competition from the very cheap an reliable train service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotlost Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Communist(Lao) and corrupt government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mijan24 Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Lation government restriction on International travel I assume. Lao citizens can simply pop over the friendship bridge travel down to Udon Thani and the world is their oyster!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnymarky Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 It cant be the rail service and it is to bangkok? I think its got to be political reasons and not business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonititan Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Lation government restriction on International travel I assume. Hmm...I'm not so sure about that. There ARE international flights from Vientiane. The OP was specifically asking about budget airlines between BKK and Vientiane. AirAsia flies Vientiane-KL, and I'm assuming that other airlines do as well. There are definitely international flights from Luang Prabang, including those heading to BKK. My best guess would just be the lack of demand/profitability? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattayaParent Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Lation government restriction on International travel I assume. Hmm...I'm not so sure about that. There ARE international flights from Vientiane. The OP was specifically asking about budget airlines between BKK and Vientiane. AirAsia flies Vientiane-KL, and I'm assuming that other airlines do as well. There are definitely international flights from Luang Prabang, including those heading to BKK. My best guess would just be the lack of demand/profitability? due to the very cheap and reliable train service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbaldwin Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Low cost airlines fly from BKK to Udon Thani. Given the additional costs involved in international flights I assume many budget travellers would be happy to fly to Udon and connect overland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayjayjayjay Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 volume of traffic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuang Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Why no budget flight from Chiangmai to Singapore....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotlost Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 (edited) And AA does fly from KUL-VTE. With Udon only about 80K away its not worth it. Thai Air is reported to stop their flights from BKK to UDON in February. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Airways-Ubon-t322360.html Edited December 18, 2009 by gotlost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Why no budget flight from Chiangmai to Singapore....... You don't count Silk Air ? Air Asia are supposed to be planning to base two aircraft up here, for next year, mainly for flights to southern-China, but I'd have thought CM-Singapore was the other clear business-opportunity, now that they've got CM-Phuket-direct running. So keep your fingers crossed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisakiman Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Low cost airlines fly from BKK to Udon Thani.Given the additional costs involved in international flights I assume many budget travellers would be happy to fly to Udon and connect overland Yes, that's what I did. There are minibuses run direct from the airport to friendship bridge. Probably only slightly more hassle than flying direct to Lao. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrdome Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 (edited) This is just a very bad time for all but the most established budget carriers, see PB Air closing shop. Air Asia should still be doing well as they have excellent flight times and on some days/some routes virtually no competition (I keep wanting not to book with them but still end up doing it due to the poor alternatives - like BKK - Penang f.e.). And they would of course link a flight to their main hub first, which they are doing. Edited December 20, 2009 by mrdome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zthyadat Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Lation government restriction on International travel I assume. Hmm...I'm not so sure about that. There ARE international flights from Vientiane. The OP was specifically asking about budget airlines between BKK and Vientiane. AirAsia flies Vientiane-KL, and I'm assuming that other airlines do as well. There are definitely international flights from Luang Prabang, including those heading to BKK. My best guess would just be the lack of demand/profitability? due to the very cheap and reliable train service? Why do so many people presume that free market forces have anything to do with how things work in this region? How about because they have an exclusive agreement with whichever airlines fly there now to ensure it is a high profit run? Rather like the Bangkok Airways flight to Siem Reap - 12k or so for 45 minutes, which is ridiculous. You can't say the budget flights dont exist because of a cheap and reliable rail or road service to Siem Reap. There is quite obviously an agreement between Bangkok Air and the Cambodian govt. There is certainly no lack of demand and yet no budget airline - Air Asia would be there with bells on if they were allowed to be, or if there weren't insanely discouraging fees/taxes in place to make it unprofitable. An opinion of course, there is no proof, but it makes far more sense than the profitability argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnymarky Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 Lation government restriction on International travel I assume. Hmm...I'm not so sure about that. There ARE international flights from Vientiane. The OP was specifically asking about budget airlines between BKK and Vientiane. AirAsia flies Vientiane-KL, and I'm assuming that other airlines do as well. There are definitely international flights from Luang Prabang, including those heading to BKK. My best guess would just be the lack of demand/profitability? due to the very cheap and reliable train service? Why do so many people presume that free market forces have anything to do with how things work in this region? How about because they have an exclusive agreement with whichever airlines fly there now to ensure it is a high profit run? Rather like the Bangkok Airways flight to Siem Reap - 12k or so for 45 minutes, which is ridiculous. You can't say the budget flights dont exist because of a cheap and reliable rail or road service to Siem Reap. There is quite obviously an agreement between Bangkok Air and the Cambodian govt. There is certainly no lack of demand and yet no budget airline - Air Asia would be there with bells on if they were allowed to be, or if there weren't insanely discouraging fees/taxes in place to make it unprofitable. An opinion of course, there is no proof, but it makes far more sense than the profitability argument. Exactly right. All these posters talking about competition from train and buses are really not very bright. And you are right about Budget airlines. They are not so "budget" when they have a monopoly on a route and can do deals with air transportation in a country . If they can screw the customer they will , Air Asia included. I think Air Asia cant get in on Vientiane scene from BKK because of reasons other than an inability to make money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeW Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 And AA does fly from KUL-VTE. With Udon only about 80K away its not worth it. Thai Air is reported to stop their flights from BKK to UDON in February. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Airways-Ubon-t322360.html It's Ubon Ratchathani, that is mentioned in that thread. NOT UDON THANI! Two totally different airports/places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeW Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Exactly right. All these posters talking about competition from train and buses are really not very bright.And you are right about Budget airlines. They are not so "budget" when they have a monopoly on a route and can do deals with air transportation in a country . If they can screw the customer they will , Air Asia included. I think Air Asia cant get in on Vientiane scene from BKK because of reasons other than an inability to make money. No, exactly wrong! Me thinks it is you who is not very bright. Siem Reap and Vientiane are two totally different cases. In Siem Reap, Bangkok Air built the airport with their own money in return for an agreement for exclusive use of the airport. Vientiane had no such private money / agreement for exclusive use. If Air Asia already flies from Vientiane to Kuala Lumpur, why wouldn't the Lao government allow them to also fly to BKK? The only thing that makes sense is that Air Asia doesn't want to because it doesn't make economic sense to them. Please provide one simple shred of evidence to show that there is something other than economic reasons for Air Asia not opening up that route. If you can't, then I strongly suggest you keep your mouth shut and avoid calling others "not very bright" for simply trying to explain to you what is the most logical explanation. It never ceases to amaze me at the types of people drawn to the forum, which is the reason why I rarely post here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostraforce Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Maybe another reason is that the Lao have a long history of being profited from by Thai landlords, factory owners and slick business men there certainly is a long tradition of thai screwing lao over, traditionally thai see lao as their personal milking cows But well this is all history stuff as the ASEAN free trade is coming up, Air Asia last week announced that they're gonna open the BKK -VT route next year http://laovoices.com/2010/01/19/air-asia-p...-route-to-laos/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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