Orient Thai Airlines, pioneer of the budget carrier concept in Thailand, has sharply reduced its scheduled flight service in a retreat prompted by fierce competition and a dramatic shift towards the lucrative charter business.
Orient Thai Airlines’ check-in counters at Don Mueang airport have become less active after scheduled domestic service was reduced to just two routes. BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA
The privately owned airline terminated two routes on Jan 6 from its Don Mueang airport base, to Chiang Rai and Hat Yai, in the latest cutback that reduced its network to merely two sectors.
They are two daily flights on the Bangkok-Chiang Mai and Bangkok-Phuket routes, both regarded as trunk routes the airline is maintaining partly to keep valid its commercial airline operating license and cash in on what are the country's busiest air routes.
A company source said the airline's charter operation, which ferries Chinese tourists to Thailand, has been relatively good, keeping its aircraft busy and immune from the intense market competition on the domestic front, especially from Thai AirAsia (TAA).
Orient Thai, which celebrate its 18th anniversary this year, flew in 290,000 Chinese tourists to Thailand last year, and charter flights from China have become the airline's cash cow, said the source.
The airline's emphasis on its charter business has deepened in recent years at the expense of its scheduled domestic services, which in its heyday involved high frequencies to six major cities.
Udom Tantiprasongchai, Orient Thai's founder, could not be reached for comment, but the source said the domestic cutback was triggered by frustrations over treatment by Thai authorities.
At issue is a fine imposed by the Civil Aviation Department on Orient Thai for not complying with regulations requiring the use of Thai nationals as pilots.
It was fined three times in recent years by the department for a total of 1.5 million baht for not complying with the stipulated proportion of Thai pilots in the overall cockpit manpower pool.
Orient Thai operates four types of jets _ B747, B767, B737 and, particularly, MD-81/MD-82, the last of which Thai pilots have not been trained to fly.
The airline continues to deploy narrow-body MD-81 and 82 series on the domestic routes, with the Boeing aircraft primarily for its charter services.
Mr Udom told reporters this week that Orient Thai expects to carry 600,000 passengers this year, most of them on its international charter flights.