Gaya route back for pilgrims

Gaya route back for pilgrims

Bhutan Airlines' Airbus A319 jet at Gaya airport. The airline will re-launch Bangkok-Gaya services from December to February.
Bhutan Airlines' Airbus A319 jet at Gaya airport. The airline will re-launch Bangkok-Gaya services from December to February.

Bhutan Airlines will reintroduce flights from Bangkok to the ancient historical city of Gaya in northeast India with increased capacity to match the expected higher travel demand.

The airline is due to offer three flights a week on a seasonal scheduled basis from December to February, up from two weekly flights when it ran a similar service between Dec 4 last year and Feb 26.

The stepped-up capacity will cater to an expected surge in demand from Thai Buddhists making pilgrimages, Sham Sachdev, director of OMG Experience Co, the Bangkok-based general sales agent for Bhutan Airlines in Thailand, told the Bangkok Post yesterday.

About 100,000 travellers from Thailand landed in Gaya last year, almost entirely to make pilgrimages.

Gaya is where the Buddha was said to have obtained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree around 2,500 years ago.

In the last pilgrimage season, the privately-owned Bhutan Airlines carried over 1,500 pilgrims from Bangkok to Gaya, including those known as free, independent travellers, people on package tours and incentive groups.

The airline will deploy an A321 jet with 122 seats -- eight in business class, 36 in premium economy and 78 in economy. The three-hour flights to Gaya will run on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The airline is offering a round-trip fare from 12,100 baht excluding tax.

Mr Sachdev said Bhutan will be the only carrier offering non-stop flights on the route on a seasonal basis.

THAI Smile, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai Airways International, has also planned to launch seasonal flights from Bangkok to Gaya from October until March next year.

THAI Smile will operate a code-share with its parent airline using A320 jets.

It plans to offer four flights a week on the route initially but will ramp these up to seven in November and December before scaling them back down to five for the next two months and four in March.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT