AirAsia daily flights from Phuket to Hong Kong and Jakarta in November
Thai AirAsia Airbus at Changi Airport, Singapore. - Photo by Terence Ong.
Thai AirAsia has been giving more details of its plans for its new regional hub in Phuket, including a decision to base in Phuket two of three new Airbus A320s it has on order. That number may rise to four later.
The airline’s chief executive, Tassaporn Bijleveld, said that, from mid-November, AirAsia will add direct daily flights from Phuket to Hong Kong and Jakarta to its existing services to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and its eight daily flights to Bangkok.
New AirAsia route Phuket to Hong Kong from November 15th 2009. Introductory one way fare 999 baht. Book from October 5th to 11th. Travel from November 15th to July 31st, 2010. Book online at www.airasia.com
In April last year, Airports of Thailand, which owns Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Phuket airports, along with three other international airports in Thailand, offered discounts of up 95% off its landing fees at the non-Bangkok airports. Parking and landing fees are still considerably lower in Phuket than they are in Bangkok, Tassaporn noted.
Reports quoted him as saying that later on, AirAsia plans to link Phuket direct with other regional points such as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Siem Reap in Cambodia and Vientiane in Laos, as well as other Indonesia cities.
The direct service between Phuket and Hong Kong is being welcomed by the local tourism industry and by Hong Kongers who are regulars in Phuket or have vacation homes on the island. There are other airlines on the direct route, notably Dragon Air, but competition from a low-cost carrier will definitely be applauded.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post reports that AirAsia will begin scaling back its existing services between Bangkok and Hanoi, Macao and Penang in October.
An increasing number of airlines, especially from Australia, are flying direct to Phuket. See here and here for earlier stories.
[...] AirAsia recently made Phuket a hub for regional operations (see previous story here). [...]