Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has returned to the Thai market after 10 years to capitalise on the strong resumption of tourism demand.
Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, deputy governor for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said SAS's inaugural direct flight from Copenhagen to Bangkok this week should support the revival in the Scandinavian market, which previously dropped before the pandemic because of weak economies.
Mr Siripakorn said since its establishment 74 years ago, SAS has had one of the oldest business alliances with Thai Airways, providing a model for the Thai flag carrier and owning shares of around 30% in Thai Airways at that time.
He said SAS played a large part in bringing Scandinavians to Thailand before it stopped flying here 10 years ago.
The resumption of SAS flights via Airbus A350 jets in the cool season adds at least 20,100 seats to the route, in addition to connecting flights where Scandinavian tourists transit in the Middle East or Taipei.
SAS filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 and has entered a restructuring process since then.
Mr Siripakorn said the resumption of SAS flights with three per week from Oct 20, 2023 to April 2, 2024 will help stimulate tourist demand from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which have a healthy recovery rate of 80% compared with 2019.
The agency expects the number of Scandinavian tourists this year to match or exceed the 2019 level.
This year, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are expected to provide 404,000 tourists with total expenditure of around 39 billion baht, according to TAT.
Norse Atlantic Airways is a new carrier that plans to connect to Thailand, with a direct route between Oslo in Norway and Bangkok.
He said the carrier will start with two flights per week from Nov 2, 2023, before increasing to three weekly flights from Dec 19 to Jan 13, 2024.
