Airlines urge Thailand to take flight with airport upgrades

Several international airlines have urged Thailand to enhance its key airport facilities and improve transport links between airports and cities, to meet its ambition of becoming a regional aviation hub. The Thai government has laid out a goal of handling 150 million passengers annually by 2030.

Egaluk Ngiwprom, Southeast Asia marketing manager of Spring Airlines, believes this is a challenging target and suggests numerous areas that need attention. Among them, he emphasised the importance of efficient transport links between airports and major urban centres or tourist hotspots.

Egaluk explained that although regional airports such as Chiang Rai and U-Tapao have the potential to attract international flights, their appeal is diminished due to inadequate transport links from the airports.

“We are concerned about the readiness of transport facilities, as travel following the pandemic has shifted to independent visitors, who have different demands than tour groups.”

Highlighting the inconvenience caused by inadequate amenities for tourists at the new SAT-1 building at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Egaluk compared the situation with Singapore’s Changi Airport. Changi has four well-connected terminals, each offering a variety of services such as movie theatres, shopping malls, children’s play areas, and diverse waiting areas.

Furthermore, the manager called for improvements in the immigration process to alleviate congestion, suggesting the adoption of biometric solutions like those used in Singapore. Egaluk also suggested that the government should encourage flights to lesser-known tourist areas by offering incentives like reduced landing or parking fees and promoting local attractions.

“Airport taxes and other fees, such as landing and parking fees, are not proportional to the level of services.”

Egaluk also recommended enhancing ground-handling services by allowing more service providers to participate.

Aviation hub

Spring Airlines, which currently operates over 80 weekly flights from China to four airports in Thailand, a decrease from the 120 weekly flights before the pandemic, also sees room for improvement.

Meanwhile, Saranya Boonyawattana, Executive Vice President of corporate strategy at Airports of Thailand Plc, revealed the company’s incentive programme for new routes between 2023 and 2025. The programme offers a 95% discount on landing fees, parking fees, and boarding bridge charges in the first year, followed by a 75% discount in the second and third years, reported Bangkok Post.

Recently, 20 international airlines were invited to the Air-mazing Thailand: Amazing Airline Familiarisation Trip hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The four-day trip aims to showcase the potential of regional airports including U-Tapao, Surat Thani, Krabi, and Chiang Mai for new flight operations.