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Thai Airways International (THAI) is adding one weekly flight to
its Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) route on Oct 28 to further
consolidate its position as the largest capacity provider on the
fast-growing sector.
The national carrier would want to add even more flights on the
route if the Vietnamese authorities permitted it, as it sees the
growing air traffic being spurred by the fast-growing business and
leisure travel in the southern Vietnamese city.
Hanoi allows THAI to add one flight a year to the HCM route and
with the additional flight, on every Thursday evening, THAI would
have used the maximum capacity as permitted, according to Nond
Kalinta, general manager of THAI in Vietnam.
THAI currently operates 16 flights a week on the Bangkok-HCM
route, with a combined weekly capacity of about 28,000 seats, more
than those provided by other carriers on the route including
Lufthansa, Air France and Air Viet Nam.
However, THAI's flights from Bangkok to Hanoi will remain
unchanged in the new high season that begins at the end of October,
at 14 a week, due to fiercer competition on the route from low-cost
carrier, Thai AirAsia, and slower growth in traffic demand in
Vietnam's capital than in the former Saigon, he said.
Budget airlines have yet to enter the Bangkok-HCM route, though
Nok Airlines and Thai AirAsia have been trying to secure the rights
from Vietnam to offer regular services to HCM by the end of this
year.
The flag-carrier enjoys a load factor of 75-80% on the
Bangkok-HCM at present.
THAI is using Airbus A300-600 jetliners, each with about 240
seats, on all its Vietnamese services.
Meanwhile, AirAsia, the parent airline of Thai AirAsia, hopes to
commence a daily flight to HCM from its Kuala Lumpur home base by
the end of this year.
AirAsia is already flying the Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi sector.
In another development, Malaysia Airlines will add more seating
capacity to flights between Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi and HCM by using
larger aircraft.
Source:
Bangkok Post
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