Thai Lion Air (TLA) is on course to acquire its first three wide-body jets, regardless of whether Thailand's red flag imposed by a UN aviation safety auditing agency is lifted.
Aswin Yangkirativorn, chief executive of the budget airline subsidiary of Indonesia's Lion Group, yesterday confirmed the arrival of the first Airbus A330-300 jet this November, to be joined shortly after by two more aircraft.
The three wide-body jets will be instrumental to TLA's debut of medium- and long-haul routes and high-capacity aircraft, adding to its current short-haul services rendered by narrow-body Boeing 737 aircraft.
TLA intends to use these wide-body jets to launch flights from its Don Mueang airport base to Japan, South Korea and northern China.
But the launch of flights, especially to Japan and South Korea, is subject to the removal of the punitive restrictions on Thai-registered airlines' international flights by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
"Even if ICAO keeps the red flag, we will continue to take delivery of A330-300s as planned, but we will deploy in other destinations such as China [where ICAO's red flag is not strictly enforced]," Mr Aswin said.
The ICAO team has been in Bangkok since last week to audit the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) and see whether "significant safety concerns" discovered in the regulatory regime and practices in 2015 have been addressed.
ICAO is expected to wrap up its work later this week and may issue its result soon after.
TLA will have the three A330-300s ready for commercial service in the first quarter of 2018 if ICAO delivers a favourable verdict, Mr Aswin said.
He said there will be more A330-300s joining TLA's fleet in the future as Lion Group shifts these aircraft originally earmarked for other subsidiary airlines. Thailand has become a focal point of the group's international expansion.
Moreover, TLA next year is due to beef up its narrow-body aircraft fleet, now comprising 27 of the 737-800 and 737-900ER series, with the introduction of the new-generation 737 Max 8.
Between five and seven 737 Max 8s are expected to be included in TLA's fleet next year, according to Mr Aswin.
Japan's Narita and South Korea's Incheon are the first airports that TLA intends to serve with the A330-300s.
Meanwhile, TLA yesterday announced the expansion of its network with the launch of its first regular services to Taipei and Mumbai.
The airline will commence three flights a week on the Bangkok-Mumbai route tomorrow.
TLA will also start serving Taipei from Don Mueang on a daily basis from Oct 20.
The Mumbai service marks TLA's foray into India, where the airline plans to add Goshi as the next port of call -- probably in the fourth quarter.