Thai AirAsia studies revival of Hua Hin-Kuala Lumpur direct flights
The Transport Ministry is accelerating plans to upgrade Hua Hin Airport into an international tourism and commercial aviation hub, with Thai AirAsia studying the return of direct flights to Kuala Lumpur.
Deputy Transport Minister Phattrapong Phattraprasit said the government was accelerating efforts to upgrade Hua Hin Airport into an international hub for commercial aviation and tourism.
He said he had visited the area to monitor progress and had ordered agencies to speed up solutions to runway-related issues and other technical components, ensuring they comply with the safety standards of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT). The aim is to enable the airport to fully handle international flights.
Phattrapong said Hua Hin district had strong potential in both tourism and the economy, particularly because of its base of foreign tourists who have a high tendency to make repeat visits.
The government is therefore pushing for systematic international flight connectivity through integrated cooperation among the Ministry of Transport, the Department of Airports, airlines and tourism agencies.
In the private sector, Thai AirAsia is playing an important role in studying the feasibility of reopening the direct Hua Hin-Kuala Lumpur route. The airline is preparing to organise a “Market Insights and Customer Insights Workshop” on July 3, 2026, in Hua Hin district.
The workshop is designed to gather information from more than 100 tourism and service operators in the area. It will cover the potential of tourism products and services, airport infrastructure readiness, and the behaviour and needs of foreign tourists.
The key objective of the workshop is to analyse these insights in order to identify Hua Hin’s main selling points in international markets. These include tourism packages, activities and travel formats suitable for target tourist groups.
The information will later be used as a basis for planning flight routes and future marketing campaigns.
According to the Department of Airports, before the Covid-19 crisis, from 2018 to 2020, Hua Hin Airport had already served international flights operated by AirAsia Berhad on the Hua Hin-Kuala Lumpur route.
During that period, more than 1,000 flights operated on the route, carrying about 130,000 passengers. The figures reflect genuine market potential and travel demand.
The planned revival of the route is not merely the opening of a flight service, but part of a wider effort to upgrade the region’s tourism economy.
The Transport Ministry said it was ready to fully support infrastructure development and facilitation measures to push Hua Hin towards becoming a high-quality international destination in the long term.
