New airlines proposed by Singapore Airlines and Qantas will now be joined by THAI Airways International’s THAI Smile in July next year.
The new carrier is being positioned as a “light-premium airline†– charging higher fares than low-cost carriers, but lower than those of the national carrier, said a THAI official.
In its first year, THAI Smile will be operating four 174-seat Airbus A320 aircraft on five domestic routes, linking Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai and Surat Thani.
THAI will be dumping these routes to make way for THAI Smile.
The new airline will be operating international routes, focused on Asian destinations such as China and India, from its second year, and will be growing its fleet to 11 A320s by 2015.
THAI and Singapore’s Tiger Airways are still planning to go ahead with the launch of budget carrier, Thai Tiger Airways, the official said.
