To offset sluggish growth in the Chinese market this year, Nok Air plans to reduce traffic to the mainland and compensate with flights to India as well as new destinations such as Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Wutthiphum Jurangkool, chief executive of Nok Air, said there are several factors affecting tourism and aviation this year, particularly the changing behaviour of Chinese travellers.
He said Chinese tourists now favour Japan over Thailand, while the Chinese government is not enthusiastic about supporting outbound trips. Thai airlines continue to be stymied by declining confidence over safety in Thailand among Chinese travellers, attributed to scammers and human trafficking issues, said Mr Wutthiphum.
Nok Air already scaled down its Chinese flights from 16 a week in December last year to 12 a week since January across three cities: Nanning, Zhengzhou and Nanjing. The number of flight connections to China could change in the future, he said.
The airline has not estimated a passenger target for this year given the sluggish Chinese market in January, said Mr Wutthiphum.
To sustain growth, Nok Air is looking at other international markets and plans to enhance its aircraft utilisation rate, he said. Last year the airline increased flights to Hyderabad and Mumbai in India to eight per week, and it plans to increase frequency to those cities while exploring new routes in the most populous nation, said Mr Wutthiphum.
He said Taiwan and Singapore are also on its radar, along with Japan, offering either direct flights or relying on the fifth-freedom agreement, enabling it to drop off passengers at a destination before flying to Japan.
For domestic flights, Nok Air plans to maximise traffic to major tourism destinations such as Phuket and Chiang Mai.
The airline's fleet consists of 14 Boeing 737-800 jets and it expects six Boeing 737 Max aircraft to be delivered within four years, said Mr Wutthiphum.
Nok Air also plans to lease planes via aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance agreements, aiming for 2-4 aircraft annually.
The airline studied new turboprop aircraft to replace retired Bombardier Q400 planes, but he said this type of aircraft might be impractical because they are typically more expensive to operate than jets, while the small cities they would serve do not have adequate spending power.
Last year Nok Air served 4 million passengers with an average load factor of more than 85%.
