Emirates remains confident in Thailand as its Southeast Asia hub after reporting the most business and first-class passengers flying from the country, which prompted the airline to launch its largest overseas lounge at a Suvarnabhumi airport terminal.
Mohammed Alwahedi, area manager for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos at Emirates, said Thailand is an important destination for the airline due to strong demand from premium passengers.
Mr Alwahedi said Emirates carries the most first- and business-class passengers for a foreign airline, totalling 870 seats per day from Thailand.
With a healthy load factor on its routes to Thailand, he said the airline is confident in its investment of US$5 million (roughly 170 million baht) in a new passenger lounge at the SAT-1 terminal at Suvarnabhumi airport.
Spanning 1,454 square metres, the lounge can accommodate up to 250 passengers, compared with 190 in the main terminal.
This is the largest lounge outside its hub in Dubai, while Thailand trails only London for the number of flights outside the United Arab Emirates.
All Emirates flights are fully relocated to the SAT-1 terminal, and its lounge is expected to be the first at this terminal.
The airline operates five daily flights between Bangkok and Dubai, flying the Airbus A380 for four flights, with one flight on a Boeing 777-300ER.
From Dubai to Phuket, Emirates operates two daily flights with a Boeing 777-300ER, while daily flights between Bangkok and Hong Kong are served by an Airbus A380.
Mr Alwahedi said Thailand remains one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, while many Thais travel using Dubai as a connecting point to Africa, Europe and the US.
Passenger segments cover various markets, including students, corporate travellers and families.
He said the airline worked closely with Airports of Thailand to adopt new technologies such as self-service check-in and automated passport control gates for Thai nationals.
Emirates recently accepted the first batch of three A350-900 jets from a total order of 65, which will be used for flights to Edinburgh, Kuwait and Bahrain, said Mr Alwahedi.
As of Jan 22, the airline has 259 aircraft and 315 on order.
Emirates serves 148 destinations across 80 countries and territories.
For the 2024-2025 fiscal year starting from April 1, 2024, Emirates Group reported a new record for its half-year performance with pre-tax profits of $2.8 billion.
A challenge for the aviation industry is high fuel prices, which could impact airlines and their operations, he said.
