BANGKOK, 3 September 2023: In response to increasing travel demand, Thai Vietjet confirms it will resume cross-country direct flights between the holiday island of Phuket and Chiang Rai, Thailand’s far north mountain destination starting 29 October
The airline will serve the route with four flights weekly, resuming a direct link suspended on 30 January 2023. The airline had attempted to revive the route during Q4 2022 as services returned following the Covid lockdown that kicked in during March 2020 and continued until 2022.
Flights will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday with a flight time of two hours and 10 minutes using an A320. The roundtrip ECO fare starts at THB5,038 (USD136.98). The outbound sector fare from Phuket is THB1,930, and the return sector fare from Chiang Rai is THB2,829. Add fees and tax). Booking sites calculate the average roundtrip fare at USD112 during the start-up month and around USD132 in December.
“As domestic tourism in Thailand is rapidly recovering, the travel demand between the two destinations has started to pick up again,” Thai Vietjet chief executive officer Woranate Laprabang. “We believe that the resumption of the flight service between Phuket and Chiang Rai will significantly boost the tourist numbers in both cities, facilitating business & leisure travellers with a more convenient choice of travel”.
Currently, Thai Vietjet offers 11 Thailand domestic routes, including flights from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Krabi, Udon Thani, Hat Yai, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, and Surat Thani, cross-country flights from Phuket to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The airline is expanding its international flight network to many destinations across Asia-Pacific, connecting Thailand with Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan and other top destinations.