Three carriers are deepening their international networks over the coming weeks.
By DAVID CASEY
Thai Vietjet is launching flights to a second city in Japan, EVA Air is eying a third point in the Philippines, and Philippine Airlines is expanding its network to a fourth destination in Australia.
Thai Vietjet is set to launch a new route between Chiang Mai (CNX) and Osaka Kansai (KIX) this week, becoming the first nonstop service to link the city in northern Thailand with Japan.
The route will commence on Feb. 17, operating three times per week using Airbus A321s. The flight time on the 3,973-km (2,146-nm) sector will be around five hours.
Founded in 2015, Thai Vietjet launched its first scheduled route to Japan in July 2022, linking Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and Fukuoka (FUK). Service initially operated three times per week before rising to daily during October.
Chiang Mai-Osaka will therefore become the airline’s second Japanese route and the third service to be offered from the Thai airport. At the present time, Thai Vietjet flies to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi from Chiang Mai 11 times per day, as well as serving Phuket (HKT) daily.
Located about 700 km (435 mi.) from Bangkok, Chiang Mai is the largest city in the north of Thailand in terms of economic scale and population. The Routes Asia 2023 host is popular among tourists and welcomed almost 10 million visitors a year before the pandemic struck.
The route to Osaka will therefore be targeting inbound visitors to see Chiang Mai’s old city and ancient temples, including the 14th-century Wat Chedi Luang Buddhist temple. The region is also home to Hinoki Land, a Japanese-themed cultural park.
Japan is one of Thailand’s major source markets and 2019 saw the country welcome more than 1.7 million tourists from Japan. In turn, Japan is also a popular destination for Thai tourists, with about 1.3 million per year traveling to Japan before the pandemic.
O&D traffic between Chiang Mai and Osaka totaled 22,365 two-way passengers in 2019, all of whom traveled indirect. The wider Chiang Mai-Japan market amounted to some 94,052 passengers, with Chiang Mai-Tokyo the largest city pair.
Thai Vietjet’s new route will depart Chiang Mai at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving in Osaka at 6 a.m. the following day. The return service will depart at 8:30 a.m. and arrive back in CNK at 1:05 p.m.
EVA Air will launch nonstop service between Taipei and the northwestern Philippines at the start of the northern summer 2023 season, increasing its network to the Southeast Asian country to 35 flights per week.
Operations between Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan (TPE) and Clark International (CRK) will start on March 30, flying daily using Airbus A321-200s. The Star Alliance member will offer 2,576 two-way seats on the 1,099-km (594-nm) sector.
Clark, which serves the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat, will become the airline’s third destination in the Philippines alongside Manila (MNL) and Cebu (CEB).
OAG Schedules Analyser data shows that Manila currently receives 2X-daily service from Taipei, while Cebu flights are daily. Frequencies to Manila will rise to 3X-daily from the end of March.
Taipei and Clark were last connected nonstop in March 2020 by AirAsia Philippines, but flights were suspended at the onset of the pandemic and the route has remained unserved since.
However, AirAsia Philippines has scheduled a return with an A320 service starting on March 26, four days before EVA Air’s inaugural flight. The LCC plans to provide four flights per week on the route—the same frequency it offered before the COVID-19 crisis.
Clark is located northwest of Angeles in the Pampanga Province on the site of the former US Clark Air Force Base. After the base was decommissioned, the Philippine government repurposed it as a special economic zone.
The airport is situated approximately 80 km (50 mi.) from MNL, giving Filipino passengers an alternative way to fly to Taiwan and connect onward to other destinations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America on EVA Air’s network.
The route will also stimulate leisure travel from Taiwan given Clark’s closer proximity to popular northern Luzon Island beaches and resorts. The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway also allows convenient travel into Manila.
Plans for EVA Air’s new route come as the airline continues to rebuild its network following the recent easing of travel restrictions in Taiwan. OAG data shows the airline intends to gradually increase capacity to more than 280,000 seats by the start of the northern summer season.
Philippine Airlines will launch flights to a fourth destination in Australia at the start of the northern summer 2023 season as it continues to rebuild its international network.
Perth (PER) will join Brisbane (BNE), Melbourne (MEL) and Sydney (SYD) in the carrier’s schedule from March 27, becoming the first point in Western Australia to be served by the airline. The nonstop route from Manila (MNL) will operate three times per week on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays using A321LRs. The flight time will be approximately seven hours.
Philippine Airlines first unveiled plans to enter the market in 2019, with a start date intended for March 2020. However, the onset of the pandemic forced the launch to be shelved.
Data provided by OAG shows that the carrier offers daily service from Manila to Sydney at the present time, as well as five flights per week from the Philippine capital to both Brisbane and Melbourne.
In total, about 9,100 two-way weekly seats between the Philippines and Australia are on offer by the airline—around 5% higher than at this time in 2019. The addition of the Perth route will add a further 1,008 weekly seats to the market.
Philippine Airlines last served Perth almost a decade ago, operating a one-stop service from Manila via Darwin (DRW), the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory. The 4X-weekly route launched in June 2013 but was axed just three months later.
The new route is likely to attract two-way leisure traffic, as well as Filipino students choosing to study in Perth. In addition, VFR traffic will also be a factor. According to Census 2021 data, there are more than 400,000 people with Filipino ancestry in Australia, up by 26% from 2016. In Western Australia, there are almost 50,000 people.
According to Sabre Market Intelligence data, O&D traffic between Perth and the Philippines was about 55,000 two-way passengers in 2019. In the absence of nonstop service, about 60% of passengers traveled via Singapore (SIN). Kuala Lumpur (KUL) was the second largest one-stop market, followed by Hong Kong (HKG).
