This was published 1 year ago
Thai AirAsia X flights from Australia take off from Melbourne and Sydney
By Craig Platt
Thai AirAsia X has launched routes to Bangkok from Melbourne and Sydney.
With domestic and international airfares soaring this summer, Australians can at least expect cheaper flights to Thailand, thanks to the return of a second low-cost carrier on the route.
Thai AirAsia X's first non-stop Melbourne to Bangkok flight took off on Thursday afternoon from Melbourne Airport, the first time the airline has flown an Australia route since before the pandemic. The budget airline's first flight on its new Sydney to Bangkok route departs on Friday.
The airline, a joint venture between Malaysia's AirAsia X and Thai AirAsia, put the routes on sale in August and said the first flight from Bangkok to Melbourne arrived with 80 per cent of seats occupied. The return leg was fully booked.
Thai AirAsia X will use Airbus A330s on the two routes, featuring 377 seats including 12 lie-flat premium seats.
The airline will fly from Melbourne three times a week, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and from Sydney four times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Although the budget carrier originally launched its first Australian route in 2019 with a Brisbane to Bangkok flight, this was short-lived due to the pandemic. However, COVID-19 proved a blessing in disguise, according to Thai AirAsia X chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld.
"We always wanted to come to the high traffic cities, which of course is Melbourne and Sydney. But before COVID, all the (airport landing) slots were full, the airport was congested - we couldn't get access.
"Now it's a golden time for us, thanks to COVID."
Bijleveld said the airline aims to increase flight frequency in Sydney and Melbourne to daily in the near future, and may return to Brisbane, as well as adding Perth..
He said the airline had not experienced any problems with staffing that some other carriers have faced as it returned to service, as staff were kept on during the pandemic.
"If you fire a pilot or an engineer, when you come back you have to train them again which can take six to eight months," he said. "So we hit 'pause' and when COVID is gone, we hit 'play'. That's why we could come back faster than any other airlines"
Thailand began reopening to tourists late last year and has steadily returned to popularity for Australians, with Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing the country was the sixth most-visited by Australians in September, behind New Zealand, Indonesia, the UK, USA and Fiji.
However, the number of Australians heading still remains well below pre-pandemic levels, with 25,000-30,000 monthly visitors in recent months, compared to 40,000-50,000 in 2019.
Thai AirAsia X will compete directly with Jetstar on the non-stop Bangkok routes, along with full service carriers Thai Airways and Qantas (which flies to Bangkok from Sydney but not Melbourne).
But Bijleveld indicated passengers shouldn't expect major discounting on the route due to competition, at least in the short term.
"If we can fill up the planes with a slight margin, that's good enough," he said. "The fares will be reasonable. We don't charge high fares even during high season.
"I don't see competitors coming yet, but if there is, we have the room for fight. But let's not fight, because everybody is hurt because of COVID."
Data from travel search engine Kayak showed the average cost of fares from Melbourne and Sydney to Bangkok had surged 72 per cent and 68 per cent for December, compared to July this year. The average cost of a flight to Bangkok from Melbourne in December was $1643, while it was $1895 from Sydney.
The writer travelled to Bangkok as a guest of AirAsia.
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