Bangkok Airways said recently it is forecasting the total number of passengers globally will reach about 70-80 percent of the Pre-COVID volume due to rapid travel demands and recovery of the world economy. In 2023, the airline said, Bangkok Airways plans to strengthen and enhance its services to better facilitate its customers and airline partners, as well as focus on uplifting the operation of its three owned airports; Samui, Sukhothai, and Trat. Additionally, 2023 marks Bangkok Airways’s 55th anniversary and the airline is set to roll out new activities and campaigns. The airline also said it will work on its sustainability development. In 2023, Bangkok Airways aims to carry about 4.4 million passengers and operate more than 40,000 flights.
Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of the airline, said “International travel and tourism has been gradually recovering which resulted in the rapid recovery for the aviation industry in all regions of the world. For Bangkok Airways, we have witnessed an increase of additional bookings since July 2022, when Thailand lifted travel restrictions. Therefore, in 2022, we had a total carried-passenger number of 2.7 million, which is up by 394.8 percent compared to the year 2021. We operated 29,892 flights in 2022, which increased by 243.8 percent compared to the year 2021. The overall picture of the total passengers-carried in 2022, it reached about 45 percent when compared to the year 2019 and gradually increased, and by the end of the third quarter of 2022, the total passenger reached 65 percent when compared to 2019. It is believed that tourists from other countries still saw Thailand as their top destination as many countries lessened their travel restrictions, which resulted in the continued speedy recovery for Thailand tourism in 2022.
“Currently, Bangkok Airways operates to 15 destinations in Thailand and seven destinations in Asia,” said Puttipong. “In 2023, the airline plans to attract more Thai travellers to travel within the country and more international travelers to travel in Thailand and the region via Bangkok Airways’s extensive network. The airline aims to achieve 15,000 million baht in passenger revenue with an expected load factor of 76 percent in 2023.”
The airline aims to utilise the three airports under its management to become aviation hubs connecting unique destinations in the region. In 2023, the company plans to expand the capacity of the airports as well as enhance its management systems, landscape enhancement, and environmental management which will be under the rules and regulations of the involved authorities and follow international standards.
Puttipong added, “Bangkok Airways realises the importance of sustainable growth and wants to make sure that all stakeholders of the company can grow sustainably while preserving the environment, especially with an eye to top environmental issues – climate crisis management, which the company takes it very seriously. Recently, Bangkok Airways has been implementing the efficiency jet-fuel management projects in order to reduce CO₂ emissions. In addition to that, the airline has also joined the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) by ICAO, to support the objectives to lower CO₂ emissions for international flights and to curb the aviation impact on climate change. The aim is to achieve Net Zero Carbon Emission by 2050. Moreover, the company also plans to set foot in other sustainability dimensions such as renewable energy studies; assessment of the carbon footprint of the organization, the development plans for the waste separation project, and upcycling projects.”
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