Thai Smile Airways, the newly formed carrier of Thai
Airways, will be launching its maiden flight from India connecting Hyderabad
with Bangkok from September 16.
Thai Smile, a light-premium carrier positioned between
a low-cost carrier and a full service carrier, was introduced by the airline in
July, connecting three destinations so far — Macau, Surat Thani and Krabi — to
Bangkok.
Hyderabad will be the carrier’s fourth destination.
Thai Smile will actually be replacing the Hyderabad service being currently
operated by Thai Airways and upgrade it to a daily service. It will be operated
by an A320 aircraft.
New price point for passengers
Thai Airways currently connects seven cities in India.
The new service was launched to offer a new price point for its passengers.
“We have priced Thai Smile at about 15 per cent
cheaper than the regular Thai Airways flight, but with more or less the same
facilities, such as onboard snacks and luggage capacity,” Woranate Laprabang,
Managing Director, told Business Line.
The carrier is acquiring four A320s this year, as it
scales up its operations. “We plan to have a fleet of 20 A320s by 2015. These
narrow-body aircraft is best suited for our operations in terms of
configuration and fuel efficiency,” he said.
Passenger traffic
Laprabang said the passenger traffic between India and
Bangkok was now at 900,000 and with the introduction of Thai Smile services, it
could go up to one million. Leisure travellers account for nearly 80 per cent
of this traffic.
The carrier is looking at two new destinations to be
added to its global network.
“On the radar are Ahmedabad, Amritsar and
Thiruvananthapuram. We will take a call depending on the response of our maiden
service in India (Hyderabad-Bangkok),” he said.
The carrier is also thinking of connecting new cities
in Thailand to India such as Phuket and Krabi.
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