Thai low-cost carrier Nok Air is launching services to the southern Thai city of Surat Thani in late October.
It will operate Boeing 737-400s on the twice-daily service from its base in Bangkok's Don Meung airport, says Nok Air's executive vice-president of marketing Sehapan Chumsai.
The carrier has a fleet of five 737-400s, including two it recently added on lease from GE Commercial Aviation Services, he says. Its first three 737-400s are leased from Thai Airways, which owns 39% of Nok.
Thai has been getting the Nok Air to coordinate its schedules with it more closely, and there have been talks to transfer ownership of the three 737-400s to the low-cost carrier. Sehapan says that no decision has been made on the aircraft.
He adds that Thai Airways will continue to operate from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport to Surat Thani twice daily, and Nok Air has timed its flights to ensure that it refrains from competing head-on against Thai Airways.
Surat Thani is a relatively wealthy city and there is a lot of business traffic on the route, he adds.
Nok Air will also be competing on the route against Thai AirAsia and One-Two-Go, according to Innovata.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
