Bangkok Airways announces direction and strategy for 2011
Paralleling the announcement of its new frontier in Mumbai and Dhaka

 
Bangkok – Recently, Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, Bangkok Airways’ President joined by M.L. Nandhika Varavarn Vice President, Corporate Communications and Ms. Ariya Prasarttong-Osoth, Vice President, Sales announced the launch of the airline’s Bangkok-Mumbai and Bangkok-Dhaka route together with its direction and strategy for 2011 at a press conference today at President Room 1-2, Intercontinental Hotel.
 

Bangkok – Recently, Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, Bangkok Airways’ President announced the launch of the airline’s Bangkok-Mumbai and Bangkok-Dhaka route together with its direction and strategy for 2011 at a press conference today at President Room 1-2, Intercontinental Hotel.
 

Bangkok – Recently, Bangkok Airways announced the launch of the airline’s Bangkok-Mumbai and Bangkok-Dhaka route together with its direction and strategy for 2011 at a press conference today at President Room 1-2, Intercontinental Hotel.


 

Bangkok Airways announces direction and strategy for 2011

Paralleling the announcement of its new frontier in Mumbai and Dhaka

Bangkok 16 February 2011 – Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, Bangkok Airways’ President joined by M.L. Nandhika Varavarn Vice President, Corporate Communications and Ms. Ariya Prasarttong-Osoth, Vice President, Sales announced the airline’s direction and strategy for 2011 at a press conference today at President Room 1-2, Intercontinental Hotel.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said, “The country’s performance in tourism is now on the right track and is improving to where we should see around 5-8% in terms of economic growth. Bangkok Airways is expecting a productive year with some 27% business expansion with a total revenue of 10.5 billion baht plus a 19% increase over the 2.6 million passengers achieved in 2010. This reflects Thailand position as Asia’s most popular destination. We will also benefit from the growth of the neighbouring countries since Thailand is widely used by tourists a gateway and stopover for other SEA countries. Serving ‘new exotic routes’ exemplified by the opening of Bangkok-Mumbai on 02 March and Bangkok-Dhaka on 27 March is part of our 2011 expansion strategy. We are confident of achieving a 60% overall load factor for both routes. Mumbai and Dhaka are large-financial centres with some 700,000 Indian nationals flying to Thailand in 2010 and over 60,000 passengers from Dhaka. A 15-20% increase on these numbers is expected this year. The fare will be competitive and services in ‘Asia’s boutique Airline’ style will be as provided on all Bangkok Airways routes. Bangkok Airways will provide 6 flights/week by Airbus A319 to Mumbai with 12 business class seats and 108 economy seats and 7 flights/week to Dhaka by Airbus A320 with 162 economy seats.

“A new Airbus A319 or A320 will be delivered at the end of the year to boost flight frequency. The overall flight frequency in 2011 will be increased to 20%. The additional Trat-Samui-Phuket route introduced in 2010 for instance, was very successful, generating a 30% increase in passengers. Last year, extra flights were also added on Bangkok-Phuket (from 5 to 6 flights/day), Bangkok-Phnom Penh (from 3 to 4 flights/day), and Bangkok-Yangon (from 1 to 2 flights/day). Currently, we plan to add more flights for high-demand routes starting with Bangkok-Chiang Mai from 4 to 5 flights/day,” added Puttipong.

At present, Bangkok Airways has codeshare agreements with Thai Airways International, EVA Air, Etihad Airways, Air Berlin, Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The company is currently in talks with Finnair, Malaysian Airlines and King Fisher Airlines to cooperate with more codeshare partners to provide additional convenience for foreign travellers and to work with each partner in the promotion of Thailand tourism.

Currently, Bangkok Airways serves seven domestic routes: Chiang Mai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Pattaya (U-Tapao), Trat, Phuket, Samui and Krabi and seven international routes: Hong Kong, Singapore, Luang Prabang, Phanom Penh, Siem Reap, Yangon and Maldives. The fleet consists of 17 aircrafts (8 ATRs, 3 Airbus A320s and 6 Airbus A319s).