Bangkok Airways will seek to add more connections among existing ports of call and raise frequencies on current routes rather than introducing new destinations.
The expansion of current ports of call is the SET-listed regional airline's near-term strategy, president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said yesterday.
The airline sees high potential to connect cities it currently serves both at home and in neighbouring countries.
One example is a possible link between Phuket and Yangon, which is expected in mid-2018, he said.
A number of new regional routes, especially including those covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, are under consideration, though no concrete plans have been made, said Mr Puttipong.
The service linking Bangkok with Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest resort island, located in the Gulf of Thailand, is the only new route Bangkok Air has confirmed it will introduce the remainder of this year.
The airline will begin non-stop flights from its Suvarnabhumi airport base to Phu Quoc airport starting from Oct 29, with four flights a week using a 70-seater ATR 72-600 turboprop.
Bangkok Air has eight domestic inter-provincial routes and five routes linking Thai provinces with neighbouring countries. Among them are Chiang Mai-Phuket, Krabi-Samui and U-tapao-Samui.
Internationally, the airline connects Samui with five foreign cities including Chongqing, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.
Bangkok Airways has previously flown an extensive route network out of Suvarnabhumi to neighbouring countries. At present, the airline serves 12 domestic destinations and 18 international cities.
The airline will take delivery of its 39th aircraft in the last quarter of this year, adding to its current fleet consisting of 15 ATR-72 500 and 600 series aeroplanes and 23 Airbus A319 and A320s.