Bangkok Airways Set For Major Expansion

[george]

BANGKOK AIRWAYS: Carrier set for major expansion

BANGKOK: -- Bt24 bn for aircraft to serve new routes. Bangkok Airways plans to spend Bt25 billion over five years to buy new aircraft and build hangars, as the company expands the number of destinations it flies to. The airline will use Bt24 billion to buy six aircraft. It is considering mainly the newest models from both French aircraft-maker Airbus and American manufacturer Boeing – the Airbus A350 and Boeing 878.

The remaining Bt1 billion is earmarked for building hangars at Suvarnabhumi Airport. “Bangkok Airways aims to raise revenues by 25 per cent per year and we expect to become a bigger carrier than the national carrier [Thai Airways International] in the region in terms of destinations,” said Prasert Prasarthong-Osoth, president and chief executive.

The investment plans come on top of the company’s earlier plan to secure four new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing. It is expected to sign the purchase orders next year.

Prasert said the newest plans were just the latest additions to an ongoing investment plan as the airline prepares for the opening of Suvarnabhumi.

So far, the company has secured deals to be a provider of three services at the airport – catering, ground handling and cargo. The airline aims to capture 20 per cent of the three businesses, while THAI is expected to control 50 per cent.

This year Bangkok Airways expects revenues to reach Bt7 billion, but net profit will remain at only Bt200 million due to higher operating costs especially for jet fuel.

To grow, Bangkok Airways needs to add destinations both regionally and globally.

Next month, the airline plans to start serving the Bangkok-Hiroshima route thrice a week. The airline will fly its 162-seat Airbus A320 on this route.

“We hope to bring in more Japanese tourists to Bangkok, Phuket, Sukhothai as well as Angkor Wat in Cambodia,” Prasert said.

Hiroshima is the fourth new destination this year following the addition of Bangkok-Zhengzhou, Bangkok-Hangzhou, and Samui-Hong Kong routes.

“Our aim is to provide links to world heritage sites in Asian countries. We want to offer something new. In the future, Japan’s famous tourist attractions can be [marketed] in combination with heritage sites in China, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. This could attract more long-haul tourists from Europe and the Americas,” he said.

A Bangkok-Nagoya route is set to start in April 2006. Nagoya is the home base of Toyota Motor Corp.

Prasert said the airline also plans to extend its network to cover the Bangkok-London route in five years, as well as the London-Siem Reap route.

Bangkok Airways also operates in Cambodia through a joint venture, Siem Reap Airways. Originally flying from Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat, in October, the airline started the Siem Reap-Hong Kong route.

--The Nation 2005-11-10

[george]

The world's the limit as Bangkok Airways plans to cross continents

BANGKOK: -- As a sign of coming of age, privately owned Bangkok Airways is looking at growing from a regional airline into a fully-fledged international carrier.

The 36-year-old carrier, which until now has been serving Thai domestic routes and neighbouring country destinations including southern China, is looking into flying long-haul intercontinental routes for the first time.

Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, founder and chief executive of Bangkok Airways, yesterday indicated that the initial focus would be the launch of scheduled flights from Bangkok to Europe.

Such a long-haul operation would start within the next couple of years in a plan drawn up through consultation with major international airlines, which Dr Prasert declined to name.

Dr Praset also didn't mention which European cities the airline would fly to.

The planned long-haul international service forms part of Bangkok Airways' long-term strategy to directly feed passenger load from Europe into its backbone domestic and Mekhong subregional network.

The airline has also reportedly been looking at introducing a number of larger, higher capacity and long-range specifications to support the intercontinental flight plan.

Bangkok Airways is eyeing two new types of medium sized aircraft which are under development - Boeing 787 and Airbus 350. The company seems to favour European makes.

The A350 is due to roll out in 2008 and B787 is scheduled in 2010.

Its fleet expansion plan calls for gradually raising the size of Bangkok Airway's fleet and its aircraft size, now comprising of 19 narrow-body airplanes including four Boeing 717-200s and three Airbus 320-232s, to 36 by the 2012. The airline kicks off intentions to fly to more distant destinations on December 2 when it inaugurates a scheduled non-stop service between Bangkok and Hiroshima, which has a flight time of about five and a half hours.

Some of the furthest destinations Bangkok Airways flys to are Hangzhow and Zhengzhu in China, with a flight time from Bangkok of four hours.

The airline will offer three flights a week to Hiroshima on board the 162-seat twin-engine jet A320 jets.

Though its first Japanese operation has yet to start, Dr Prasert has alredy talked about raising the frequency to the ``City of World Peace'' to daily in April next year.

Bangkok Airways also announced plans to make Nagoya its second port of call in Japan as early as April next year as well, competing with national carrier Thai Airways International which operates two flights a day between Bangkok and the Japanese city.

But the expansion of its Japan-bound operation is subject to the formalisation of the amendment in the Thailand-Japan air agreement which is expected to concluded next month, according to Dr Prasert.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Airways is revamping its loss-ridden China operations, now covering six destinations, to gear towards higher passenger segment after being hit by poor yields and fierce fare competition.

The airline expects to finish 2005 with a 20% growth in revenue to seven billion baht with a net profit of about 200 million baht, representing only 3% of revenue due to pressure from the sharp runup in fuel prices.

--Bangkok Post 2005-11-10