Thai AirAsia X to fly to Europe in 2017?
DIVERSIFICATION: Carrier eyeing destinations in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland
ASIA’S largest low-cost carrier, AirAsia Group could fly to Europe next year through its Bangkok-based long-haul affiliate Thai AirAsia X, with Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland possible destinations.
Thai AirAsia chief executive officer (CEO) Tassapon Bijleveld told the Centre of Aviation (CAPA) that the carrier was considering Prague, Budapest and Warsaw as part of the airline’s network diversification strategy.
Thai AirAsia X could not be reached for comments as at press time yesterday. Thai AirAsia is the short-haul sister company of Thai AirAsia X.
Thai AirAsia X is 49 per cent owned by AirAsia X Bhd, 41 per cent owned by Bijleveld and 10 per cent by Thai investor Julpas Kruesopon.
Bijleveld is also a member of Thai AirAsia X’s board of directors while its CEO is Nadda Buranasiri.
“Eastern Europe is a relatively large and under-served market for Thailand. There would also be opportunities to offer connections within Asia on Thai AirAsia for Thai AirAsia X passengers flying in from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland,” said CAPA, the leading aviation analysis provider.
CAPA said eastern Europe and India were attractive options for Thai AirAsia X.
Among the airline’s international destinations are Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo in Japan, Seoul in South Korea, Shanghai in China, Teheran in Iran and Muscat in Oman.
Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd aviation analyst Mohshin Aziz said the eastern European destinations were a worthy experiment for Thai AirAsia X to take on due to Thailand’s geographical location.
“It’s consistent with AirAsia X group’s plan. I think it will be a unique flight and would appeal to Europeans. There aren’t many long distance flights from Asia to eastern Europe and I think the competition there would be less compared with western Europe,” he told Business Times yesterday.
However, Mohshin viewed that perhaps Thai AirAsia X could fly to Russia as well due to a large number of Russian tourists in Thailand, especially Bangkok.
In March, AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes had tweeted that AirAsia X was eyeing Russia as its new international destination.