BANGKOK - With a reputation build up on an excellent service due to its status of
“Boutique Airline” – the airline’s slogan for now a few years- Bangkok Airways
remains confronted to increased competition in regional markets.
For many years, the carrier has
been able to prosper thanks in part to its quasi-monopoly on Koh Samui flights
– Thai Airways proposes only two daily frequencies between Bangkok and Samui-
and its complete monopoly on flights to Siem Reap-Angkor out of Bangkok.
Anticipating a complete open-sky on ASEAN routes following the implementation
of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the carrier is looking at new
strategies.
Over the last two years, Bangkok
Airways has increased the number of flights on most of its domestic and
regional destinations in a bid to strengthen flights connectivity with its
overseas partners. It has also opened new flights to South Asia with
frequencies to Bangladesh as well as to India. According to Peter Wiesner, Vice
President in charge of the strategic development, Bangkok Airways will increase
its presence in the Mekong region with a third daily flight between Bangkok and
Yangon from September 15. It will also open in December a daily frequency
between Bangkok and Vientiane in Laos. They are plans to serve by September 2013
Mandalay out of Bangkok as well as coming back to Vietnam from 2014. “We need
two daily flights at least to satisfy demand to either Ho Chi Minh City or
Hanoi or both cities. We now also evaluate flights from Suvarnabhumi to Krabi,
Udon Thani or Hat Yai as Thai AirAsia will relocate its operations to Don Muang
Airport from October 1st”, indicates Peter Wiesner.
In a recent interview to the
Nation newspaper, Bangkok Airways president Puttipong Prasarttong-osoth
indicated to also study the feasibility of launching its own low-cost carrier
to capture this fast-growing market following the establishment of the Asean
Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. A decision will be taken following the
airline’s listing on Thailand’s Stock Exchange which is planned for the first
quarter of 2013. It would be a major shift for Bangkok Airways, which until
recently refused to move into that field by feeling that its boutique concept
was sufficient to retain its passengers. Although the airline benefits from
interlining agreements with some 72 international carriers and code share with
a dozen carriers –including Finnair, Etihad, Air Berlin, Air France-KLM,
Malaysia Airlines, Silk Air or Thai Airways, point-to point traffic is
definitely under threat- as it is also for Thai Airways International...
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