OFF TO A FLYING START

China Southern Airlines’s plan to operate scheduled flights to U-tapao airport will help the airfield’s commercial hub bid.

China Southern Airlines has firmed up its plan to operate scheduled flights to U-tapao airport, helping to lift the airfield’s status as a commercial hub for the Thai eastern coast.

The Chinese carrier, billed as the world’s sixth-largest airline by passenger numbers and Asia’s largest airline in fleet size, is due to descend on the Royal Thai Navy-operated airport on Jan 8.

The full-service airline has yet to officially notify the airport authority which Chinese city it will fly from, although Shanghai was mentioned in the initial discussion, said a senior airport official.

China Southern intends to deploy the Airbus 320-200, the single-aisle jet configured with 152 seats, for flights serving U-tapao.

It is one of four international airlines that have either expressed an intention or interest in making U-tapao their port of call for regular service. The others are Okay Airways, also from China, Emirates, and THAI Smile, a budget airline wholly owned by cash-strapped Thai Airways International.

Okay Airways have told airport officials about linking U-tapao with its main hub in Tianjin next month, possibly with two to three flights a week to be served by A320 jets.

THAI Smile is reportedly considering serving China from U-tapao, while Emirates may try to connect with its Dubai home base, said airport officials.

The U-tapao airport authority has been wooing international airlines to serve the airport in a bid to raise air traffic volume to support its 700-million-baht airport upgrade expected to be up and running in mid-2016. The upgrade, primarily building a larger and more modern passenger terminal, will raise U-tapao’s annual passenger handling capacity to 3 million from 870,000.

No-frills carrier AirAsia started the frenzy by launching up to nine routes out of U-tapao in the first six months the airport opened for commercial service. AirAsia offers 46 flights a week through U-tapao, the most by an airline in the 39-year history of the airport, which served as a major staging and refuelling base during the Vietnam War.

AirAsia is largely enthusiastic about the market potential of U-tapao as a gateway to the Thai eastern coast, particularly Pattaya. Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive of Thai AirAsia, has declared it will gradually introduce more routes through the airport.

Those future routes may include more connections with Thai cities and linking with India, whose nationals are flocking to Pattaya for holidays, he said.

AirAsia now operates scheduled flights from U-tapao to Kuala Lumpur, Nanning, Nanchang, Singapore, Macau, Chiang Mai, Udon Thani and Hat Yai.

But two other existing airlines operating scheduled flights through U-tapao — Bangkok Airways and Kan Air — using turboprop ATR 72 aircraft do not plan to expand services. Bangkok Airways flies from U-tapao to Phuket and Samui, while Kan Air flies to Chiang Mai.

U-tapao also serves a handful of charter operators including Thai-registered R Airlines and Russia’s Nordwind Airlines.