Recent announcements by a number of airlines indicate that cities in South Thailand are set to see a strong return of international flights across all categories – scheduled, low-cost, and charter – in the last quarter of 2009. As of 25 October, 2009, Tiger Airways began flying from Singapore to Krabi four flights a week, using an 180-seat Airbus A320. From 3 November, 2009, the airline is to launch three weekly…
Recent announcements by a number of airlines indicate that cities in South Thailand are set to see a strong return of international flights across all categories – scheduled, low-cost, and charter – in the last quarter of 2009.
As of 25 October, 2009, Tiger Airways began flying from Singapore to Krabi four flights a week, using an 180-seat Airbus A320. From 3 November, 2009, the airline is to launch three weekly frequencies on the Singapore – Hat Yai – Singapore sector, using the same aircraft.
On 1 May, 2009, Firefly, the low cost subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, launched its inaugural flight from Subang airport, Kuala Lumpur to Phuket. It has also expressed interest in starting flights from KL Subang to Krabi and Hat Yai, traffic demand, and other conditions permitting.
Malaysia and Singapore are among the main sources of visitors to Hat Yai. In January – September 2008, Malaysian visitors to Hat Yai (at accommodation establishments) totalled 311,064, up 1.04% over the same period of 2007 while Singaporean visitors totalled 60,695 (-17.61%).
As of 26 October, 2009, Happy Air, a new regional Thai carrier, began flying from Phuket to Hat Yai, one flight a week. On 1 November, 2009, it will start daily flights on the sectors Hat Yai-Langkawi and Phuket-Langkawi.
Happy Air Travellers is a new regional airline based in Phuket, operating a fleet of 34-seat Saab 340A aircraft.
The renewed interest by the airlines is welcome news for South Thailand which has been affected by the decline in regional travel as a result of the financial crisis and the fears over the H1N1 swine flu.
Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, Tourism Authority of Thailand said, “There is no better sign of renewed confidence in the travel and tourism industry than to see airlines reinstating their services. We hope these renewed flights will help bring back visitors in the very critical last quarter of what has been a very difficult year.”
According to the Airports of Thailand, during January – September 2009, the number of aircraft movements at Hat Yai International Airport totalled 7,292 (-1.29%) and passenger movements totalled 1,010,531 (-0.17%).
At Phuket International Airport, the number of aircraft movements totalled 27,034 (-6.88%) and passenger movements totalled 4,092,866 (-6.60%).
According to the Department of Aviation, which oversees Krabi International Airport, the number of aircraft movements there during January – July 2009 totalled 2,723 and passenger movements totalled 387,623. The percentage change over the previous period was not available.
The Office of Tourism Development, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, reports the number of visitor arrivals to Krabi and Phuket during January – March 2009 totalled 523,467 and 984,496, respectively. They generated 3,730 million baht and 21,998 million baht in tourism revenue, respectively.
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