Thai AirAsia X (TAAX) will suspend route expansions until at least mid-2017, after Thailand’s aviation industry receives international safety approval.
The long-haul, low-cost carrier sees a good chance to launch new routes after the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has decided to remove the red flag imposed on Thailand for its aviation safety shortcomings.
“A good timing for our new route launch will come only after [ICAO’s] red flag is off, maybe in mid-2017,” TAAX chief executive Nadda Buranasiri told the Bangkok Post.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has earlier this month expressed hopes that it will pass the next ICAO audit in June next year, thus clearing the major impediment to the country’s aviation industry put in place in June 2015.
Mr Nadda declined to name specific countries TAAX wants to fly to and whose governments frown upon the flights of carriers registered in countries on the UN agency’s blacklist.
The essence of ICAO’s red-flagging means that Thai-registered airlines are not allowed to open new routes, nor raise the frequency of existing flights to foreign countries, nor change aircraft types already deployed for current services.
But it is up to individual countries to follow the ICAO ruling. Some such as Japan, South Korea and Australia, are known for strictly following the rulings, while others like China use their own judgement whether to allow Thai-registered airlines.
But Mr Nadda said countries in Eastern Europe and Down Under are under study for future coverage.
TAAX will spend time over the next six months to look at the ideal routes.
In that period, the airline will make use of its spare aircraft capacity, resulting from the termination of its Tehran and Muscat services, on Dec 5 and Jan 19 next year respectively, for charter purpose.
TAAX has already shifted some the spare capacity for charter flights between China and Thailand, he said.
There are six Airbus 330-300 wide-body jets, each configured with 377 seats, in TAAX’s current fleet and, there is no plan for additional aircraft acquisitions next year.
He affirmed that TAAX’s core services from Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport to Tokyo and Osaka, Seoul and Shanghai continue unabated.
While the clampdown on inbound Chinese tourist scams hurt business in the past three months, Mr Nadda said TAAX’s Chinese flights are back on track.
TAAX expects to finish 2016 with 8 billion baht in revenue, 1.1 million in carried passengers with a load factor of 82-85%.