From 2024, Thailand is expected to have another 5 airlines operating, with a total investment of at least 3.85 billion baht. Thailand is already served with 6 domestic airlines, most whom also have services from Thailand into regional destinations.
Nation Thailand reports that Really Cool Airlines, P80 Air, Pattaya Airways, Siam Seaplane, and Landarch Airlines have all received an Air Operating Licence from the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. However, the carriers are still waiting on their Air Operator Certificate before they can launch commercial flights in the kingdom.
Really Cool Airlines expects to receive its AOC in January 2024 and begin operations from the second quarter of the year. CEO Patee Sarasin says in the first 2 years, the carrier will focus on Asian routes, including Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The start up airline seems to have had the lion’s share of media and publicity as it gets ready to start services next year.
The airline plans to test the market with chartered flights operating between March and May, before switching to regular flights and then expanding to Europe in the future.
“We would not compete with Thai Airways International on their regular routes but would focus on flights to secondary cities, which would also help further promote Thailand’s tourism industry.”
Meanwhile, Sorakrit Wannala, spokesman for P80 Air, says the carrier expects to receive its AOC in the next 9 months and begin operations in the last quarter of next year. The airline plans to focus on secondary cities in China in the first 2 years of operations.
Also hoping to take off in the last quarter of 2024 is Pattaya Airways, operating on both domestic and ASEAN routes.
Siam Seaplane hopes to add amphibian aircraft, such as the Cessna Caravan 208, to its fleet, serving “high-end” passengers travelling to popular seaside destinations in Thailand. The airline will begin operations with flights to Koh Lipe in the southern province of Satun.
Meanwhile, from April 2024, Landarch Airlines plans to offer short chartered flights between major cities in Thailand’s South. Based in Hat Yai, in Songkhla province, the airline has plans to purchase five 12-seater Cessnas within its first 5 years of operation, expanding to 15 in the years that follow and adding provinces beyond the South to its route map.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
