Thai airline veteran Udom Tantiprasongchai is
in talks with Asean and Chinese entities to create a new budget carrier on a
scale that would challenge heavyweight players like AirAsia and Jetstar.
Mr
Udom, the founder of Orient Thai Airlines, confirmed he has been in discussions
with "a couple" of potential partners located in Southeast Asia and
China about the creation of a new airline.
An
industry source said one of the parties is from Indonesia.
The new
carrier would be a 49:51 joint venture between the foreign entity and Mr Udom,
as majority Thai ownership is required for airlines registered here.
"We're
serious about this [setting up the new airline] and expect to get it off the
ground within a year," he said.
The
proposed carrier would cover routes in Thailand, Asean and China, primarily to
tap growing leisure travel demand in the region.
Orient
Thai, which operates scheduled Thai domestic flights and provides charter
international services, could use the new airline to feed regional passenger
traffic into its domestic network, he added.
Orient
Thai's ownership and status will remain unchanged.
Both
the 10-nation, 601-million-strong Asean and China provide massive opportunities
for airlines, he noted.
Orient
Thai has been active in bringing group tours from China to Thailand through its
charter operation, which at times provides more income than its scheduled
flights.
The new
airline may attempt to emulate the growing dominance of the region's discount
aviation market by the fast-expanding AirAsia group headquartered in Malaysia
and Jetstar backed by Australian flag carrier Qantas.
The
Jetstar group is the largest low-cost carrier in Asia Pacific by revenue and
has flown more than 75 million passengers since its launch in 2004. In the past
financial year ending in June 2011, Jetstar carried 20 million customers.
Jetstar
has grown from 400 employees in 2004 to more than 7,000 staff across Asia
Pacific today. The group offers up to 3,000 flights a week to 56 destinations
in 17 countries and territories across Asia Pacific with a fleet of 80
aircraft.
In 10
years, AirAsia has expanded its fleet from two to 106, all A320s. It has 150
routes and has carried over 140 million passengers.
Kathleen
Tan, the AirAsia Group's head of marketing, recently said the airline's
priority is to consolidate its position in Southeast Asia before moving on more
aggressively in China and India.
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