One Two Go to do 60 daily flights
The aftermath of the coup has paved the way for One Two Go Airlines Co Ltd, a Thai-owned budget airline, to increase its flights from 24 a day to 60 a day next year.
The company will spend Bt500 million to Bt600 million to lease additional MD-82 aircraft to achieve the plan as well as to solve delayed-flight problems. The company now has only five aircraft to handle all flights and will lease three more this year. The number will increase to 15 next year. "Before the coup the company asked aviation authorities for an increase in flight numbers, but it took a long time compared with our competitor Air Asia," the company's chairman Udom Tantiprasongchai said last week. Udom said that the company was ready to compete fairly with rivals. Late last week the company introduced domestic flights from Bangkok to Krabi to serve rising demand from tourists. The province is part of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Unseen Thailand promotion campaign. To facilitate the expansion, the company plans to mobilise foreign investment funds and is also considering becoming a listed company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) within the next two years. "If we enjoy good operating results with a high turnover we will enter the SET," he said, adding that the company was thinking of appointing a financial adviser. The company has registered capital of Bt200 million. The company appointed Kajit Habanananda as its new chief executive officer late last week. Kajit was previously managing director and vice president of the company. The new appointment will encourage the company's business plan to separate administration between Orient Thai Airlines Co Ltd, the previous operator of One Two Go, and the One Two Go operation. Under the company's new operating plan, One Two Go will focus on domestic flights and international routes within less than three hours flight time. Orient Thai will handle longer-distance international flights. By the end of this year One Two Go will operate an international route from Bangkok to Macau. It plans to open three more international routes, to Singapore, Malaysia and Guangzhou, next year. Udom said the company had been waiting for an aviation licence for flights to Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang for the last two years. He now expects licences for another two provinces will be approved by this year. Next year One Two Go targets 150-per-cent growth from its revenue of Bt2 billion this year. Orient Thai will have revenue of Bt3.5 billion this year.
Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul The Nation Krabi
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