Bangkok Airlines is a privately owned carrier, which had undergone a rationalization with the suspension of several international routes. It is to embark on the flights from Bangkok to Mumbai and Dhaka in the month of March next year. This launch acts as a cautious move while the airline industry steadily recovers from the slump faced by its economy.
Known as the boutique airline of Asia, Bangkok Airways will soon be starting to serve the Bangkok-Mumbai route with its six flights a week plan using the Airbus A319 jet configured with dual classes and 120 seats. The vice president Nandhika Varavan said, “The Bangkok-Dhaka service is due for take-off on March 27 with seven flights a week using an Airbus A320 with 162 seats in all economy class”. She added, “The increasing demand on the Bangkok-Mumbai route comes from more Indians visiting Thailand for leisure and business”.
The Indian subcontinent is the only international region where the airline is trying to expand as it always promises air passengers’ traffic. It is also looking forward to expand to major cities like Kolkata and New Delhi.
One of the foremost steps towards achieving this plan was taken by the Bangkok Airline by appointing Global Aviation Services Pvt. as its general sales agent for India. Some of the earlier decided expansion routes like Ho Chi Minh City, Guilin, Macau, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Xian and Shenzhen got suspended by the airline. This is to stem the losses of about 1 billion baht in 2008 and 2009.