Peach powers up Thai service

BANGKOK Peach Aviation, a Japanese low-cost airline, will introduce a new route connecting Bangkok and Okinawa in Japan next month.

The carrier will launch daily flights from Okinawa to Bangkok starting 19 February and from Bangkok to Okinawa 20 February.

Speaking at a press conference, last Thursday, the airline representative director and CEO, Shinichi Inoue, said the upcoming service would be the airline’s first route  to a destination in Southeast Asia.

Shinichi Inoue

“The new route will help to boost leisure travel between Bangkok and Okinawa…we also hope neighbouring countries will benefit as Bangkok is a hub to connect to other destinations.”

“We use Okinawa as the airline second hub to operate flights to surrounding destinations within a four-hour flying time and Bangkok will be the first destination in the ASEAN region,” he said.

The airline CEO noted services appeal to female travellers, 20 to 30 years old.

Anticipated cabin factor for the new route would be around 75% to 80%, he said.

To tap the travel agency channel in Thailand that can deliver outbound leisure traffic to Okinawa, the carrier appointed Air People International Co Ltd as general sale agency.

Air People has a network of retail agents across Thailand that it will tap to sell Peach Aviation tickets.

Peach currently operates a fleet of 18 aircraft and serves more than 100 flights daily on 13 international and 14 domestic routes, serving more than 13,000 passengers. Its fleet will increase to 20 aircraft in 2018 and 35 aircraft by 2020.

According to Japan National Tourism Organisation data, 805,100 Thais visited Japan during January to November, last year, an increase of 14.5%, mainly driven by easy travel stay rules that encourages tourism from ASEAN nations.

Meanwhile, 1,310,719 Japanese travellers visited Thailand for the first 11 months of last year improving 4.31% from 1,256,539 visits during the same period in 2015, according to Ministry of Tourism and Sports figure.

A one-way promotional fare, including sales tax, ex-Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi Airport) to Okinawa (Naha) starts at THB3,180 up to THB13,980 in economy class. Fares on premium class begin at THB4,380 up to THB15,580.

Peach does not add a fuel surcharge, but other fees and airport taxes are extras.

Fares will vary depending on seat availability.

sourced:ttrweekly.com