THAILAND’S position as a top tourist destination is helping to fuel the expansion of Emirates’ capacity and network in Asia, according to Jabr Al-Azeeby, the airline’s manager for Thailand and Indochina.
Said Al-Azeeby: “2013 was a magnificent year for us. Demand picked up so much that we are serving six daily flights with the addition of a second Airbus A380 Dubai-Bangkok service since October 27 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 28, 2013).
“We are already seeing high load factors averaging 85 per cent year-round in and out of Thailand…We (expect to) see very big growth in 2015 when the ASEAN Economic Community starts, with Bangkok as the regional hub.”
The Dubai-based airline currently offers 2,000 daily seats on its Bangkok-Dubai flights; including services to Hong Kong, Sydney and Christchurch, the number of seats out of Thailand total 3,000 daily, Al-Azeeby revealed.
He does not rule out the possibility of further raising Emirates’ Bangkok-Dubai capacity in future although any expansion of its daily Dubai-Phuket service (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 14, 2012) is limited for the time being due to current capacity constraints at Phuket International Airport.
With its growing capacity to Bangkok, the carrier has already observed stronger demand from Europe during Thailand’s current peak season, while its connections to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and Argentina (Buenos Aires) have fuelled “huge demand” for South American outbound travel to Thailand via Dubai, he remarked.
Meanwhile, Emirates has also seen strong performance on its Thai outbound services. Among the new destinations launched this year, including Clark, Tokyo (Haneda), Stockholm and Warsaw, the last has received “nice demand from Thai operators using the Polish capital as a gateway to Central Europe”, according to Al-Azeeby.
New cities coming onto Emirates’ flight network in 1Q2014 include Kiev (January 16), Taipei (February 10) and Boston (March 10); other new destinations are expected to be announced after the financial year ends on March 31, 2014.
Emirates will also highlight stopover benefits in Dubai such as a free 36-hour visa offer, special hotel rates starting at US$40 a night, and exclusive tours and excursions priced from US$25, which together will cost travellers less than US$100 for Dubai layovers, Al-Azeeby revealed. The carrier is set to complete the installation of onboard Wi-Fi across all its fleet soon.
In September, Emirates rolled out ultra-luxurious private jet services worldwide on Airbus A319 aircraft, offering 19 seats with onboard amenities such as flat beds and showers.
“We are looking forward to private jet service demand in Thailand,” said Al-Azeeby.
