Thai Air Asia mulls whether to move back to Don Muang Airport

BANGKOK, May 23 (TNA) - Thai Air Asia will decide within two months whether to relocate its domestic flights back to Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, after the budget airline is first listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on May 31. Tassapon Bijleveld , Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asia Aviation Public Company Limited (AAV), the management of Thai Air Asia, said Wednesday that the issue is being carefully considered, taking all its pros and cons, including comparable costs at the Don Muang and the Suvarnabhumi Airports, into account. Tassapon acknowledged that there are plenty of rooms for further expansion in the regional low-cost airline industry, given the combined population of 680 million in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) but limited airliners, pointing out that in Thailand alone, where there are some 70 million population now, demand for aviation flights has far exceeded market supply. Tassapon assessed that Thai Air Asia’s passengers should total 8 million this year, from 7.2 million last year, and its cabin factor, or the proportion of reserved seats per flight, should increase to 81-82 per cent this year, from 80 per cent last year. On another matter, the Thai Air Asia top management announced that his low-cost airline has set the initial public offering (IPO) price, the first selling price offered to the public, for its shares at 3.70 baht each, and is allowing the public to subscribe for the company's shares at the IPO price from May 23-25, before the airline is first listed on the Thai bourse on May 31, aimed to enhance its financial security to support the airline's plan to double its passenger planes to 48 over the next five years, from 24 currently. (TNA)