TLA shelves 3 planned routes; MRO hub certified

No-frills Thai Lion Air (TLA) has put three planned international routes on hold because of various issues.

Facing deferral are the launches of Bangkok-Denpasar, Bangkok-Taipei and Chiang Rai-Guangzhou, according to insiders.

The permits for the three routes have already been secured by the low-cost carrier, which will need to work out launch dates pending clearance of several issues.

In the case of the Bangkok-Denpasar debut, TLA is asking for a more convenient arrival time slot at Bali’s gateway airport — closer to 7pm instead of 9pm — to make the route more marketable.

The start of the flight, which would be offered on a daily basis, was postponed from July 1 to Aug 1 and again to Aug 15.

TLA’s startup date for the daily Taipei flight has been delayed by issues involving ground handling services at Taiwan’s Taoyuan airport.

The service was earlier planned for launch on Aug 1, with the flight departing Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport at 4.40am and arriving in Taipei at 9.20am.

TLA’s introduction of a regular Chiang Rai-Guangzhou service, planned for launch on Sept 2 with three flights weekly, has been postponed indefinitely.

Further study of the route’s traffic demand is required, an insider said.

Meanwhile, Lion Air Group, the parent firm of TLA, announced that its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Batam, in Indonesia’s Riau Islands, passed a safety and security audit by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Subsidiary Batam Aero Technic (BAT) has been certified for FAA 145, a global standard for providing maintenance and repair of Boeing 737 family aircraft.

BAT began operations in 2014 on an area of 40,000 square metres.

The BAT hangar can accommodate 12 narrow-body planes and four wide-body planes at once.

Lion Air Group’s MRO facilities can service several serial types of Boeing 737 — 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900ER — as well as ATR 72-500 and 72-600 turboprops and DHC-8 aircraft.