KUALA LUMPUR, 3 December 2018: Krabi’s travel industry will be heartened by the news Air Asia will increase services to the South Thailand resort destination to four daily flights effective 9 January.
Faced with declines in Chinese visitors to neighbouring Phuket island, mainland Krabi has also witnessed a decline in visits and advance bookings through to the end of January 2019.
In addition to overnight stays at Krabi’s beach resorts, the province also relies on day trips from Phuket by road and sightseeing boats.
Marine excursion dropped dramatically after the 7 July tragic boating accident that killed 47 Chinese tourists.
However, traffic from Malaysia remains robust over the next two months and in response to the long-term increases in arrivals and advance bookings for Krabi resorts, AirAsia at the weekend confirmed it would increase daily flights from three to four, effective 9 January.
Like the other daily flights the fourth frequency will use an Airbus 320 with 180 seats.
Due to launch 9 January, the new Krabi-bound flight from Kuala Lumpur has a departure time of 0925 (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday) and 0955 on the other four days.
Meanwhile, Thai AirAsia will launch a new direct daily service from Krabi to Chingqing in mainland China effective 7 December
The daily service will use a 180-seat Airbus A320 departing Krabi at 2055 and arriving in Chongqing at 0115 the following day. It departs from Chongqing at 0215 and arrives back in Krabi at 0550.
The lowest fare for a flight second week of December on the new route was around THB8,600 return including tax and service, but not credit charge fees or charges for checked baggage and meals.
(Source: Airlineroute)
