Thai Lion Air seeks fleet, route expansion

Thai Lion Air seeks fleet, route expansion

Passengers queue for check-in at Thai Lion Air counters at Don Mueang airport. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Passengers queue for check-in at Thai Lion Air counters at Don Mueang airport. (Bangkok Post file photo)

Thai Lion Air (TLA) has entered its third year of operation with further consolidation and new investment.

The no-frills affiliate of Indonesia's Lion Air Group will this year add seven new Boeing 737 jets, expand its network and invest 600 million baht for its own pilot training facility near Bangkok.

Chief executive Aswin Yangkirativorn told the Bangkok Post the expansion underlines the airline's commitment to Thailand though its balance sheet remains in the red.

By the end of this year, it will have 25 Boeing B737-900ERs and 737-800s flying.

On the domestic front, TLA plans to launch a new route from its Bangkok base at Don Mueang airport to the southern province of Trang in March with two to three flights per day, according to Mr Aswin.

This year will see TLA opening more international flights as additional aircraft capacity becomes available as new jets come in.

There will be new routes connecting other provinces such as Surat Thani and Krabi with cities in China, the emerging market for the airline.

TLA will this year focus on penetrating China after operating charter flights from Don Mueang to Chongqing, Changsha and Jinan.

Mr Aswin recently visited various cities in China for talks with aviation authorities about the possibility of TLA flying there. He earlier named Guangzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing as the cities where TLA intends to operate regular flights from Bangkok, pending approval from Chinese authorities.

TLA does not envisage objections from Chinese authorities for traffic rights as a result of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) red-flagging Thailand's civil aviation authority for safety shortcomings.

Its passage in September last year of a globally-recognised operational safety audit known as the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) paved the way for TLA to secure rights to operate new international services.

The IOSA reflects the airline's compliance with more than 900 global standards concerning operational safety.

Being on the IOSA registry will significantly strengthen TLA's chance of having its airline operating licence recertified by the Civil Aviation Office of Thailand in the second half of this year as part of the revamp required by the ICAO.

Mr Aswin also talked about the possibility of TLA introducing larger wide-body jets to its fleet next year to support its growing operations and possibly flying longer routes.

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