A slew of border reopenings has prompted the low-cost carrier to restore much of its regional network.
A Thai AirAsia Airbus A320neo at Don Mueang. (Photo: Jaruphat/Wikimedia Commons)
Thai AirAsia has set out an ambitious plan to resume international flights to seven countries on 18 routes this April, with the great majority flown from Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport and Phuket. Responding to pent-up demand and the expanding scope for quarantine-free travel within South and Southeast Asia, the airline will reinstate 38 flights per week next month, before ramping up that figure to 81 flights per week by May.
Santisuk Klongchaiya, Thai AirAsia’s CEO, said in a statement, “As the world continues to gradually reopen, this is the right time for AirAsia to spread our wings once again as the most popular low-cost airline in Thailand … AirAsia Thailand will kick off the resumption of international services with flights connecting Thailand to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and the Maldives this April through to May.”
From Bangkok, regular services to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are poised to restart on April 9, and the Bangkok–Bali route will follow on April 12, the same day Thai AirAsia resumes flying twice a week between Phuket and Singapore. The airline will then relaunch flights from Don Mueang to Chennai and Penang on April 13. The first day of May will see Thai AirAsia begin serving Da Nang with four weekly services from Bangkok, while transporting passengers between the Thai capital and Kolkata on a twice-weekly basis. Bangkok residents can look forward to nonstop flights to Johor Bahru and Siem Reap from the 3rd, with both routes operated three times a week. Plans are afoot for Thai AirAsia to return to Kochi and Jaipur the same month, but these have not yet been listed on flight schedules. Services between Hat Yai and Kuala Lumpur are said to be in the pipeline as well.
By progressively reintroducing international routes, especially for countries that allow quarantine-free entry, the budget carrier expects to return to over 60 percent of its international flight capacity before the fourth quarter of 2022. Thai AirAsia is also aiming to reach its full pre-pandemic domestic capacity by the end of the year.
