Budget carrier Peach to serve Okinawa-Bangkok route
PEACH AVIATION, a Japanese budget carrier, will soon open a new route between Bangkok and Okinawa, the company’s representative director Shinichi Inoue said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines said it would increase flight frequencies to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City beginning in March.
Peach Aviation said daily flights from Okinawa to Bangkok would start on February 19 and from Bangkok to Okinawa the next day.
Inoue said the new route would mark the 130th anniversary of friendly ties between Japan and Thailand.
“The casualness of our flights, much like ‘flying trains’, an airborne version of everyday trains, will finally start to happen in Southeast Asia,” he said.
“Bangkok is not only a city famous for its temples and markets, it’s also gathering the |spotlight in new areas like the culture that has been born in Thailand.
“There are areas where you can find concentrations of chic shops and cafes, apparel brands and festivals set up by young creators in the area, and the city has become a place that boasts unquestionable popularity as a travel destination, particularly among women.
“I hope that by leveraging the characteristics of a route to and from Okinawa, a movement will begin to occur that has never been seen before, such as a new style of travel for women using Peach.
“I’m already excited that with Peach servicing the route as a ‘bridge for Asia’, Bangkok will become a place that people can casually visit.”
With the opening of the new route, the Peach network will comprise a total of 27 routes, 13 international and 14 domestic.
Peach says it will continue to aim to become “a bridge between Japan and the rest of Asia”, aggressively offer routes, and deliver its customers happy journeys in the sky.
Peach began operations out of its Kansai International Airport hub near Osaka in March 2012.
It opened a secondary hub at Okinawa’s Naha Airport in July 2014 and began servicing Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in August last year.
Peach currently operates a fleet of 18 aircraft and services more than 90 flights each day, serving more than 13,000 passengers daily. It is also scheduled to set up a hub at Sendai Airport in fiscal year 2017 and at Shin-Chitose Airport in fiscal year 2018.
