PHUKET, 8 August 2023: Thai Vietjet will resume direct flights on 29 October from Phuket in South Thailand to Chiang Rai, a town in far north Thailand.
PhuketOK News first reported the news last week, which was picked up by Facebook netizens residents in Chiang Rai, overjoyed by the news that they will once more have a direct airline service to the popular holiday island on the Andaman Sea coast.
So far, the airline has not officially announced it will resume the direct flight from the southern island beach resort to Chiang Rai’s hill country, but there is plenty of evidence that it is on the table and ready to launch. It reintroduced the route in April 2022 after a three-year Covid pandemic pause and shut it down almost immediately without warning or explanation. Pre-Covid, the airline served the Phuket-Chiang Rai route daily using an A320 with two hours and a 10-minute flight duration. When it dropped the route post-Covid, local tourism and hotel executives in Chiang Rai criticised the airline, saying it had shut down the route just a few months before the peak season was due to start in late October 2022. A year later, it looks like the airline will be back flying initially four times a week on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Last week you would have been hard-pressed to find any details of the service on any of the travel or aviation-related websites, including the airport websites of both Phuket and Chiang Rai airports. But it did surface on the travel booking site Trip.com showing a departure time from Phuket of 0815 and an arrival time of 1025 in Chiang Rai. The flight number is VZ400.
A search of the Trip.com booking site for a direct flight on 15 November flagged a one-way fare as low as THB400 if you booked it immediately (last Friday). A fare alert from Trip.com pinged a below THB500 one-way a day later, but as the days tick by, the fare will rise to around THB1,817 if you believe the travel platform’s forward estimates for one-way fares on this new route.
Checking Thai Vietjet’s booking website late Monday before this post goes live confirms the flight details and departure time for the four weekly services effective 29 October are confirmed, but the fare is rising fast. The airline pegs a one-way economy fare at USD70 (THB2,438.10), including all taxes and fees for travel on 8 November. A check of Trip.com indicates the fare for 8 November has now risen to THB1,335 one-way in economy.
