Wednesday, September 30, 2009

New airline to take off late this month

       The first new Thai startup airline in many years, known as Happy Airways, is poised for take-off late this month, defying the aviation industry downturn and a slump in air travel.
       The Phuket-based carrier will start scheduled daily flights between the resort island and Hat Yai on Oct 26, followed by daily services between Phuket and Langkawi, and Hat Yai and Langkawi on Oct 29.
       The new airline is operated by Happy Air Travellers, a firm owned by an unnamed Phuket-based Thai entrepreneur,who saw the opportunities to tap the short-haul service demand through the Thai southern resort island.
       The airline will be the first Thai carrier to really take to the skies in several years,ahead of Krabi Airline, which has been repeatedly delayed with flights originally scheduled to start on Nov 1,2007.
       Krabi Air last indicated that it would start flying to Oslo and Munich using a Boeing 767-300ER from the southern province of Krabi in June this year, but according to its website the inaugural flight "is postponed until further notice".
       Happy Airways has leased two Saab 340A turboprop aircraft, each capable of carrying 34 passengers, from a Swedish aircraft leasing company to operate on its routes. But the airline will shortly take delivery of the first Swedish-made plane as its capacity is sufficient to accommodate the initial operation.
       The second aircraft is expected to arrive in the first quarter of next year.
       Its first route, Phuket-Hat Yai, will reestablish the missing direct air link between the city-pair last left by Nok Airlines, the budget carrier affiliated with Thai Airways International.
       Nok Air suspended the Hat Yai-Phuket service in November 2007 after finding there were not enough passengers to continue the service which began on June 6 using a 150-seat Boeing 737-400 jet.
       But Happy Airways is upbeat about the viability of the route in view that its smaller aircraft offers capacity that matches the actual demand.
       "Our studies show that about 40-60 people would fly the route which correspond to our Saab 340A's capacity,"said Phatcharapon Sontipun, sales and marketing manager at Happy Airways.
       "Even if we could only carry 20 passengers per flight, we should be able to cover costs and sustain the operation."
       Most of the passengers on PhuketHat Yai would be businessmen, medical professionals and academics, with tourists forming the minority, he said.
       The service provides a better travel alternative than road which takes about seven hours, he added.
       Its two other routes - Phuket and Hat Yai to the Malaysian island of Langkawi - offer tourist traffic potential and foreigners on visa runs.
       The one-way all-inclusive fare for Phuket-Hat Yai is 2,300 baht and the flight time is about one hour. The airline will charge 3,500 baht for a one-way trip from Phuket to Langkawi while the Hat Yai-Langkawi fare will cost 2,100 baht.
       The Phuket-Langkawi flight is expected to be particularly accommodating for Phuket's foreign residents as they will now be able to do visa runs and get back to Phuket within a few hours.
       Happy plans to spread its wings by using Phuket as its hub and is looking to open a new route to Medan, Indonesia.

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