Bangkok Flights Edge CloserEZY AIRLINES GRANTED LICENCE AND ROUTE ALLOCATION

Bangkok Flights Edge Closer

EZY AIRLINES GRANTED LICENCE AND ROUTE ALLOCATION

The granting of a civil aviation operating licence and route allocation for flights between Hua Hin and Bangkok to Ezy Airlines, who are operated by M-Landarch Co Ltd, has brought the prospect of faster travel to the capital a step closer, over two decades since such a service was previously available. The confirmation from officials was announced during a Prachuap Khiri Khan Joint Public and Private Sector Committee (JPPC) meeting this week, which was discussing the province’s tourism performance. One of the meeting’s discussions was to discuss the idea of a formal letter of support regarding the launch of scheduled flights.

It is still expected that previously announced flights from the airline, to Phuket, Surat Thani and Hat Yai, will commence this month, and the suggestion is that the Bangkok route may also be available from the same time. A promotional sightseeing flight last month, out of Hua Hin Airport, used a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX, capable of carrying 10 to 12 passengers, which is thought to be the type of aircraft that will be used for all routes. No details have yet been given for the first flights to the southern destinations, or for the capital flights, although starting dates and schedules may be affected by the work being carried out on the airport. The flight to Bangkok is likely to take around 40 minutes, and would almost certainly be into and out of the Don Mueang International Airport, rather than Suvarnabhumi.

All previous press releases concerning the flights, and the JPPC meeting, have stressed, or implied, the intention “to serve international and high-value travellers”, and “high-value travel experiences”, which suggests that the ticket prices may not be for the budget traveller, nor an option for regular tourist travel to and from the destinations due to the likely limitations on baggage, although the mention of “golf activities” does contradict this somewhat, so in every regard it is a case of wait and see. With only two weeks left in December at the time of writing, if services are going to begin this month, an announcement of the details must be imminent, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if this comes next year.

Above: There are hopes that more routes will be added to the existing AirAsia Chiang Mai route, and that the Kuala Lumpur route will be revived (AI generated image)

Prior to Covid, there were flights by AirAsia, not only to Chiang Mai, which of course still runs now, but also Kuala Lumpur; many expected the latter to resume once the travel restrictions between Thailand and Malaysia were lifted, and there has been general puzzlement that they have not, as it appeared to be a well used route; there was an announcement that they would resume in June 2022, but this was abruptly cancelled, and it seems like it has been a victim of both route rationalisation and an assessment of unfavourable market conditions, combined with significant financial issues for parent company Capital A; maybe a reassessment will occur as they are about to complete the sale of the business to its medium-haul low-cost sister firm AirAsia X this month, which will consolidate all seven airlines across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia under a single brand and network. The AirAsia X brand will be discontinued as the group merges short-haul and medium-to-long-haul operations. The unified group will be called AirAsia Group, and plans to expand from 143 destinations currently to 175 over the next 10 years.

While the introduction of the Ezy Airlines routes will have a barely negligible effect on tourism in Hua Hin, the direction of travel (pun intended), with the airport improvements added in, is that there will be an increasing impact with more flights, and further elevation of Hua Hin’s already increasing prominence as a tourist and retirement destination; inevitably this will spark a conversation on the positives and negatives of this, but overall, it should be seen as a positive, as long as the rate of increase is not too drastic, so that any extra demand for facilities and infrastructure can be initially absorbed by what is already available, and then gradual improvements made to adapt to demand. The main worry is likely to be whether it would effect the ambience and generally “chill vibe” that so many visitors approve of, which is almost exclusively driven by the local Thai people; would a huge influx of tourists cause the same kind of “overtourism” affects that have been seen elsewhere?

Featured image: AI image of an Ezy Airlines plane boarding at Hua Hin Airport

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