Off to Thailand: Bangkok-Phuket is again bustling for Indian airlines

Just about every airline has added flights to Thailand.

In 2018, IndiGo launched non-stop flights between Varanasi and Bangkok. The internet was full of memes calling it the Paap and Prayaschit route. A trip to Thailand is always met with chuckles and sniggers across offices!

Thailand has been a popular destination for Indians, and passengers between the two markets include all kinds of tourists. Thailand is also a strong MICE market; MICE is short for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

Opening scheduled international services in the aftermath of COVID-19 has been a challenge for governments because it entails reciprocity in acceptance of vaccinations being administered by various countries. It’s no longer exclusively the domain of civil aviation, The external affairs, home, and health ministries are involved as well.

Considering how the markets opened up for travel to Maldives -- not a budget destination by any means -- airlines were happy to announce flights the moment Thailand started accepting tourists under the air bubble arrangement with India.

As India allows the reopening of scheduled commercial services, here’s a look at the India-Thailand market, one of the most popular international routes.

A market with a shakeup

India and Thailand have offered each other liberal bilateral flying rights. Their agreement allows over 26,000 seats each way per week and open skies i.e. unlimited flights to 18 destinations in India! Thailand, on its part, is liberal towards airlines, allowing liberal fifth freedom rights, which Air India has utilised in the past.

Fifth freedom is the right to carry passengers from one's own country to a second country, and from that country onward to a third country.

The market was once dominated by the now defunct Jet Airways, but has seen a major shakeup and like many, is largely driven by low-cost carriers from the Indian side. As bilateral rights to Bangkok were exhausted, Go Air (now Go FIRST) was the first to experiment with non-stop flights to Phuket and like many other sectors, competition followed.

Thailand has been dominated by tourists from China but a ferry disaster in 2018 had led to a reduction in those numbers, which were being happily filled up by Indians on the back of steal deals and more flying options, until the pandemic struck!

What happens now and who all are flying?

A look at the schedule published by global travel data provider OAG, exclusively shared with Moneycontrol, shows that there had been a sudden spike in seats deployed between India and Thailand when the air bubble became operational. However, as scheduled international services open up on Sunday, flights are lower in count than what they were in March 2022. The fares too, have dropped, shows data from Google Flights.

Just about every airline has added flights to Thailand. IndiGo has added the maximum number of flights and points with flights to Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and to Phuket from Delhi and Mumbai. It is followed by Go FIRST, which has added flights to Phuket from Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata. It would fly Bangkok -Suvarnabhumi from Delhi and Mumbai.

Other Indian airlines have been cautious with Air India and SpiceJet sticking to the tried and tested Delhi and Mumbai flights to Bangkok while Vistara has restricted itself to Delhi-Bangkok.

From the Thai side, Thai Airways will ply to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai from Bangkok - Suvarnabhoomi while its sister carrier Thai Smile will operate to Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Thai AirAsia will operate flights to Chennai and Bengaluru from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport.

With nearly half the capacity out of the market, return fares are in the range of Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 20,000 to Bangkok while those to Phuket are a little higher. As the season shifts and becomes hotter, it may not be the best season to visit Thailand but travel seasons are dictated by COVID waves and not seasons any more.

Tail Note

“With the easing of international travel from India, capacity to Thailand will increase to 54% of January 2019 pre-Covid levels as airlines slowly rebuild capacity to take advantage of the pent-up demand. Thailand remains one of the top destinations for Indian travellers which will see further restoration of capacity in the coming months as airlines match capacity with market demand,” said Mayur Patel, head of Asia for OAG.

However, the flights are still restricted to major metros in India and if you are planning to fly the Paap and Prayaschit route, you will have to wait! Like all markets - domestic and international – post-COVID times have seen a drastic change in capacity, traveller profile and demand.

With a visa on arrival in Thailand, a trip gets planned quickly and that means airlines can add capacity rapidly if there is a sudden uptick in demand. For all those planning to travel, do keep an eye out on the regulations, which tend to change faster than flight timings these days.