Nok Air cancels Nakhon Ratchasima-Chiang Mai flight routes
After just two months of operations, Thailand’s budget airline, Nok Air, is cancelling its flights from Nakhon Ratchasima to Chiang Mai province. The last flight took off yesterday morning with only 10 passengers on board. The move comes after the twice-weekly route saw low passenger numbers. The Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft that was used for the routes could carry up to 86 passengers, but Nok Air says some of its flights only had a total of nine passengers on board.
The Nakhon Ratchasima governor confirmed the low volume of passengers on the flights. Various promotions were proposed to the airline by different agencies, with the governor advising the airline to expand its route to increase traffic. He proposed that the airline should extend the route to Bangkok, or create a new route from Hat Yai to Chiang Mai with a stopover in Bangkok.
The budget airline has already scrapped another special route back in July after losing around 40 million baht in the failed scheme. In February, it introduced the Bangkok to Betong route but bookings never really took off and Nok Air had to call for support from the government to cover its operation cost. The low-budget airline resumed flights on April 29 with a three-month contract but Nok Air CEO Wuttiphum Chulangkun doesn’t feel it will work.
Wuttiphum revealed the 1-hour 45-minute Bangkok-Betong route was losing money, despite government support, and operational costs were too high to make it profitable.
“We have to decide whether we should drop the route or not after the promotion with travel agencies ends in July.”
Next month, the airline’s fleet is scheduled to undergo maintenance, leaving it short-handed on aircraft.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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