Less than a week after resuming service, Thai AirAsia is “confident” air travel sentiment will recover, especially during the holiday period at the end of 2021.
The budget airline restarted operations on September 3, 2021, after the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said it was allowing domestic flights to resume on September 1, 2021.
“We have seen a very positive response within the first three days of returning to service especially for popular destinations such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Hat Yai, which achieved load factors as high as 90% and we foresee the demand to continue on a good momentum,” CEO Santisuk Klongchaiya said in a statement on September 7, 2021.
The airline said it was “keeping a close eye on the situation” and intended to add more routes and increase flight frequencies in time for the high season in the fourth quarter.
“These are very encouraging signs for the aviation business and tourism industry, which we expect to begin recovering very soon,” Santisuk said.
The airline expects wider vaccination rates and falling COVID-19 cases will be catalysts for the recovery.