Timely idea from Thai AirAsia

Written by Writer on Monday, October 27th, 2008

Punctuality record greatly improved

BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

Thai AirAsia seems to have resolved an issue that had given the no-frills carrier a bad name _ flight delays and punctuality. The airline’s on-time performance has improved so much that it has shortened its punctuality guarantee to two hours, down from from three hours set in July this year.

From Nov 1, the guarantee will entitle passengers whose flights are delayed by more than two hours from the scheduled departure time to a voucher worth 1,800 baht for use in purchasing Thai AirAsia tickets.

Chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld said that the airline’s on-time performance now exceeded 90%, compared with 70% in the initial period of operation four years ago.

The improvement is largely due to brand-new Airbus A320 jetliners replacing ageing Boeing 737-300s in the carrier’s fleet, reducing aircraft downtime and making standby planes available.

So far the airline has issued about 100 punctuality penalty vouchers due to circumstances such as weather conditions upsetting flight schedules by preventing aircraft from landing.

Mr Tassapon said the airline had been working hard to enhance its on-time performance as part of an overall campaign to increase load factor. Punctuality is one of four key considerations when a passenger chooses an airline, along with routes, frequencies and fares.

Meanwhile, the economic uncertainties caused by Thailand’s political turmoil and the global financial crisis have made business planning at Thai AirAsia more difficult.

”The situation has become so fluid that we’re planning business on a monthly basis,” he said. ”We’re adopting a wait-and-see attitude for next year’s plan in terms of network expansion.”

However, the airline’s schedules for taking delivery of A320s _ 40 of which have been ordered _ are on track. The eighth and ninth A320 will be joining the airline’s fleet each in the next two months with three more due next year.

Its current fleet consists of 14 jetliners, split equally between Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s.

Starting next month, Thai AirAsia will reintroduce Bangkok-Nakhon Si Thammarat flight on a daily basis, while raising the frequency on the Bangkok-Udon Thani route from one to three flights a day.

While the airline does not envisage any further additions to its Thai routes, which now cover 11 cities, it intends to start daily flights from Bangkok to Guangzhou on Jan 15, followed shortly by Bangkok-Bali.

Bangkok Post
Monday October 27, 2008