Bangkok Airways Plc has allocated 3 billion baht to finance investments this year, which include a plan to procure two new aircraft to support growing passenger numbers.
The airline anticipates 3% growth in passenger numbers this year to 6.16 million, resulting in at least a 3.5% increase in passenger revenue this year from 20.5 billion baht earned in 2018.
Chief executive and president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said the airline plans to use 1.82 billion baht to secure two new aircraft, adding ATR 72-600s to its fleet. Delivery is scheduled for the second quarter this year.
Some of the funds will be used to acquire parts for repair and maintenance work and cabin refurbishment for its Airbus aircraft. The programme will run from this year through 2021.
As of the end of 2018, the airline reports a total 40 aircraft, comprising nine Airbus A320s, 15 Airbus A319s, five ATR 72-500s and 11 ATR 72-600s. The company owns and operates three airports: Samui, Trat and Sukhothai.
Mr Puttipong said this year the company will also spend 958 million baht to finance the expansion of Sukhothai airport as well as maintenance repair operations, with 334 million for expansion and runway improvement at Trat airport.
Tourists enjoy a basket boat on a river in Hoi An, an old city near Da Nang. AKSORN WISUMA
The rest of the investment funds, estimated at 193 million baht, will be used for shifting the passenger reservation system to Amadeus and the establishment of Bangkok Aviation Training Centre Co, which will be fully owned by the company.
To meet its goal of 70% load factor this year, up slightly from 68.6% last year, he said the airline will add new routes, especially to new tourism destinations in the CLMV region (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam).
CLMV routes have been added, especially in Vietnam, in response to rising passenger demand.
As of late January this year, Bangkok Air offered a Bangkok-Cam Ranh route with four flights a week after operating the Bangkok-Phu Quoc route with seven flights per week and Chiang Mai-Hanoi from March 2018. Earlier this month, it increased the frequency of the Bangkok-Da Nang route to 14 flights per week, up from seven.
For Laos, the Chiang Mai-Luang Prabang route will have three flights a week by April 2. Last year, the company increased flight frequencies on Bangkok-Vientiane to 14 per week and Bangkok-Mandalay to 11 per week.
The company also plans to open new routes including Chiang Mai-Krabi with three flights per week, starting at the end of this month, and will increase the frequency to a daily flight from May 1.
One of its most popular routes, Krabi-Bangkok, will increase to 28 flights a week from 21 flights, starting March 31.