Eight airlines have been given slots to fly into Thailand’s southern resort province of Krabi during the cold season, from October 31st to March 26th, said Director-General of Thailand’s Department of Airports (DoA) Apirat Chaiwongnoi.
He said the requests were made during the 148th IATA Slot Conference, which was held virtually between June 15th and 17th, and the time slots have been allocated to these eight airlines.
He explained that the conference’s goal is to allow airports and airlines to discuss the allocation of slots for an airline to land and take off from a specific airport on a daily or weekly basis.
Up to 82 flights have now been booked to and from Krabi per week. The eight airlines are:
- Sichuan Airlines, four flights a week between Chengdu and Krabi.
- Spring Airlines, three flights a week between Chengdu and Krabi and three weekly flights between Shenzhen and Krabi.
- AirAsia Berhad, 28 flights a week between Kuala Lumpur and Krabi.
- Finnair, three flights a week between Helsinki and Krabi.
- Norwegian Air, one flight a week between Oslo and Krabi.
- Shanghai Airlines, 7 flights a week between Shanghai and Krabi.
- China Eastern Airlines, 7 flights a week on the Urumqi-Hefei-Krabi route.
- Scoot Tigerair, 10 flights a week between Singapore and Krabi.
Additionally, a charter airline, TUI fly Nordic, which operates the Copenhagen-Gothenburg-Helsinki-Stockholm-Krabi route, has been allocated 16 fights to Krabi, from November 7th to March 26th.
Mr. Apirat said that, during the virtual conference, he informed airlines about improvements being made at Krabi airport, to accommodate more flights and arriving passengers, as well as Thailand’s readiness to reopen the country to foreign visits in the next four months.
