SHANGHAI-based Juneyao Airlines has included a third Thai destination – Chiang Mai – to its international flight network as Thailand continues to climb in popularity among Chinese tourists.
From today, the carrier will begin operating the Shanghai (Pudong)-Chiang Mai segment as a twice-weekly service on Airbus A320-200 aircraft, before ramping up frequency to four times weekly on April 26.
Juneyao Airlines’ Thailand manager, Keith Lam, said: “Thailand is currently a very hot destination among the Chinese. The hugely popular Chinese movie, Lost in Thailand, which has spurred the interest of Chinese tourists in Thailand, was just the tipping point for us to expand our network to Chiang Mai.”
China became the top source market for Thailand in 2012. Last year, Chinese arrivals surged 47.1 per cent to a record 2.7 million arrivals, from 1.7 million in 2011.
Juneyao Airlines launched its first international destination with the commencement of daily flights from Shanghai to Phuket in November 2012. In January, it also started daily flights to Bangkok.
Lam said: “We have been seeing good passenger load factors on our Bangkok sector at about 85 per cent, while Phuket is slightly lower at 80 per cent or so.”
While its Thailand flights are still dominated by Chinese passengers, he revealed that the airline has been active in courting Thai tourists too.
“We are working with Thai travel agencies to create promotions for the outbound Thai market. For example, our Spring Festival packages were well received among the Thais.”
Juneyao Airlines is not the only carrier strengthening its network in Thailand. Hong Kong Airlines started operating a third daily Hong Kong-Bangkok flight on March 31 and will operate the Hong Kong-Phuket service on A330-300 aircraft instead of A320 from April 16. Kenya Airways also ramped up its four weekly services between Guangzhou and Nairobi via Bangkok to daily operations since April 1.
