CHIANG RAI, 31 January 2019: Thai AirAsia introduced, this week, its seventh Thailand flight hub, this time in Chiang Rai, by stationing an Airbus A320 to serve four new direct routes to Macau, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Phuket.
Airports of Thailand and Tourism Authority of Thailand officials welcomed the first flight from Macau on Wednesday.
The airline will offer three weekly services from Chiang Rai to Macau, Singapore and Phuket and four weekly services to Kuala Lumpur.
Services on all four routes from the Chiang Rai hub will roll out by 1 February, with the airline boasting it has achieved a 90% cabin factor from the word go.
Earlier this month, travellers who bothered searching for early bird deals on any of the four routes discovered it was not possible to log a booking after 30 October.
However, a check on the airline’s booking engine today, 31 January, showed bookings could now be made for both the Macau and Kuala Lumpur direct services beyond 31 October this year, while bookings shut down for both the Singapore and Phuket services at the end of October.
AirAsia’s communications department finally responded to TTR Weekly’s repeated emails requesting clarification on the booking status beyond October 30.
The airline stated: “Operations and schedules are normally split into two periods, summer schedule from end of March to end of October and winter schedule from end of October to end of March.
“AirAsia affirms that it has strictly followed application and regulatory processes to secure the approval to operate the routes. The unavailability of flight booking reflects a period of change to the winter schedule, which will be listed in the booking platform when the airline receives final approval of time slot from the relevant authorities.”
However, bookings for two of the four routes (Macau, Kuala Lumpur) are open into the next winter timetable, while bookings close for the other two routes (Singapore and Phuket) from November onwards .
That should be a cause of concern for tour operators who are planning to book clients on these routes for the peak season November through to February.
But as the airline suggests it could be a technical snag, although the standard practices is for airlines to roll over flight booking availability for a maximum of 362 days, according to a veteran airline manager familiar with IATA rules.
Avid fans of AirAsia who love to catch early bird fares far in advance will be disappointed that they cannot book a flight on the Phuket and Singapore routes to Chiang Rai for the peak season months. The last bookable fare in October sells for a roundtrip fare of THB3,150 ex-Singapore.
AirAsia currently operates six routes from Chiang Rai.
They are: Chiang Rai – Don Mueang Bangkok six daily flights;
Hat Yai daily;
Macau three weekly (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday);
Singapore three weekly (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday);
Kuala Lumpur four weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday); Phuket three weekly (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday).
