NokScoot extends China network

BANGKOK NokScoot will focus expansion on China routes in the short-term, while considering Japan and South Korea further down track, according to a recent Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation’s analysis.

CAPA noted that services to Nanjing in China were launched in June, this year, and NokScoot has since gradually extended services to other Chinese cities.

They included Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Chongqing.

NokScoot will start a new route between Bangkok and Dalian, 23 September, with three weekly flights on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, according to the airline’s website.

Based on the current plan NokScoot will allocate all its capacity to mainland China with 24 weekly flights offering 9,960 seats. This will give the airline a 5% share of total seat capacity between Thailand and China up from 4%, the centre said.

NokScoot is now planning to add seven Boeing 777s. In the long-run, NokScoot plans to increase capacity between Thailand and China to give it a 14% market share.

Nok Air CEO and NokScoot board member, Patee Sarasin, was quoted saying that NokScoot also aims to serve Japan and South Korea eventually, but the airline does not expect the current restrictions on Thai airlines from Japanese and Korean authorities to be lifted for  another 18 months.

For the restrictions to be lifted Thai authorities need to pass a new ICAO audit. ICAO initially red-flagged the Thai authorities for not meeting international safety standards in early 2015, leading to flight restrictions from Japan and South Korea.

sourced:ttrweekly.com