Government Spokesperson Chai Wacharonke disclosed that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is driving the Aviation Hub policy, by promoting international travel to make Thailand as an important destination, facilitating the Thai aviation industry into a regional hub. In this regard, the concerned agencies have successfully negotiated aviation rights to a mutual agreement to increase the number of seats on flights between Thailand and India. The flights will operate in 6 major Indian cities starting in November 2024.
According to the Government Spokesperson, the concerned agencies implement policies according to the Prime Minister’s vision. In March, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) discussed with a delegation from the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation and Indian airlines on the issue of expanding Thai – Indian aviation rights. As a result of the negotiations, both sides will receive the right to fly with an increased number of seats and will further expand capacity and frequency rights. According to the conditions, either airline must have 80% of the entitlement ready to expand flights to important cities by adding 7,000 seats per week, or approximately 2,000 passengers per day, to 6 cities: Bombay, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
The agency has coordinated with Thai airlines to allocate the appropriate number of seats as received. Flights will be able to begin in November 2024, and Thai airlines will proceed with requesting permission to fly in and requesting flight times on routes allocated by Indian agencies. The outcome of this negotiation will allow Thai and Indian airlines to fly more with each other, and it will also help promote travel to main and secondary cities. Increasing travel volume to be consistent with the expansion of visa exemption measures is to promote travel and tourism in both countries.
Including the results of “Visa Free” measure for Indian tourists traveling to Thailand between 10 November 2023 – 10 May 2024 and the measure has been extended until 11 November 2024, resulting in numerous Indian tourists. Throughout the year 2023, more than 1.62 million Indian tourists visited Thailand. In addition, data from 1 January – 9 June 2024 found that Thailand had 903,248 Indian tourists visiting. It is believed that the agreement to allocate more seats will be able to accommodate a significant increase in Indian tourists.
“Thai Prime Minister supports Thailand as one of the important destinations for tourists, while Indian tourists were another popular group to travel to Thailand. Therefore, we believe that increasing the number of flights and seats are important step in connecting Thailand and India. India is one of the most important countries in the South Asian region, and it is an opportunity to expand cooperation to other dimensions that still have opportunities for growth, such as public-private cooperation, the film industry, and technology, to drive cooperation mechanisms to further develop relations between two countries.” Government spokesperson.
