With the year-end peak travel and holiday season just around the corner, AirAsia is all geared up for the action by ramping up its international services with the launch of five international flights from Thailand over the past three days.
AirAsia's inaugural flights took off from Bangkok-Don Mueang to Hyderabad, India (27 October) and Phu Quoc, Vietnam (27 October), while over in Phuket, its maiden flights departed for Indian cities of Kolkata (27 October) and Chennai (30 October), and Siem Reap in Cambodia on 29 October.
In collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Don Mueang Airport and Phuket Airport, AirAsia held warm welcoming ceremonies for arriving inbound guests on the initial flights at the respective airports.
With these new services, Thai AirAsia is confident it will see significant growth during the last quarter and achieve its passenger target of flying 20-21 million guests for the year.
Ms. Tansita Akrarittipirom, Head of Commercial for Thai AirAsia said: "We could see that the Indian market has grown remarkably this year and buoyed by this exciting trend, AirAsia decided to add three more new routes to India, connecting Thailand now to 12 cities in India via a total of 14 routes. Based on the travel demand growth between both countries, we expect to close the year with an average load factor of over 90 percent for our Indian routes. Feedback received from our recent media event in Hyderabad to promote Thailand there further reaffirms and supports our projection.
"Closer to home, we are just as excited to be launching our first ever route to Phu Quoc in Vietnam, a wonderful city boasting endless tourist attractions and Siem Reap in Cambodia, home of the world's largest religious structure, Angkor Wat."
Mr. Arun Lilapantisitti, Phuket Station Manager for Thai AirAsia, regards the launch of three new routes from Phuket this week as not only record breaking but more importantly further boost the resort island economically and contribute to its prosperity.
"Most or AirAsia Allstars here are from the local community in Phuket and its surrounding provinces. We are all very proud to have been able to contribute to the growth of AirAsia here and be part of the development of Phuket tourism as a whole," said Mr.Arun.