Bangkok Airways' plan to launch a third China-bound route out of Samui is facing further delay.
According to insiders, no new date has been set for the commencement of the Samui-Chongqing flight, which had been scheduled to get off the ground on July 22 with three weekly flights operated by Airbus 319 single-aisle jets.
No official reason was given for the delay, the latest in a series of postponements from the original launch date set for late last year.
Chongqing was supposed to follow Chengdu and Guangzhou, where the SET-listed airline earlier connected with Samui as part of a strategic plan to create direct overseas leisure traffic to the resort island in the Gulf of Thailand.
Chonqing is the only Chinese destination left to be linked with Samui on Bangkok Airways' current drawing board for international services.
The airline's other overseas flights out of Samui are Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Bangkok Airways has recently scaled back its Samui-Chengdu frequencies to four flights a week from the daily basis to align with traffic demand.
Samui-Guangzhou flights, at one flight a day, remains intact.
Bangkok Airways president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth told the Bangkok Post that the airline is not moving further into the Chinese market any time soon.
Rising global fuel prices and the hefty jump in excise tax imposed on jet fuel used for domestic flights have created extra burden in its "bottom line" costs, which require the airline to take a more cautious approach to launching new routes, he explained.
"You don't get 80% load factor right away from a new route, so you have to be extremely cautious and make sure any new routes are truly viable," he added.
Existing fierce competition over Thai domestic skies and local route potentials have discouraged Bangkok Airways from launching new domestic services, according to the president.
Capt Puttipong said Bangkok Airways has been in talks with a couple of international airlines regarding code-share partnerships, which are expected to be wrapped up within this year.
Bangkok Air on June 1 took Hong Kong Airlines on as its 25th code-share partner.
The accord allows Hong Kong Airlines passengers to travel with Bangkok Airways to Samui directly from Hong Kong or via Bangkok using the Thai airline's domestic flights between Bangkok and Samui.
Capt Puttipong said Bangkok Airways' code-share strategy has proven to be fruitful, especially the recent partnership with Thai Airways International (THAI).
"The code-share agreement with Thai Airways has indeed helped channel their passengers to our routes, thanks to their global network covering more than 60 destinations,'' he added.
Covered in the agreement are 14 routes operated by Bangkok Airways and one by THAI, meaning Bangkok Airways gets significantly more passenger feed from THAI's global network.
Capt Puttipong also said the airline will take another three Airbus 319 jets later this year, after acquiring two of the model in the first half of this year. There are 36 aircraft in the airline's fleet now, comprising 12 A319s, 9 A320s, 6 ATR 72-500 and 9 ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft.
Bangkok Airways is considering the viability of converting some of ATR-500s, now used for passenger aircraft, into freighters. "We are considering if there is enough cargo demand to justify the conversion," he said.