Bangkok Airways has just announced that it will suspend all domestic flights from April 7 until at least April 30, 2020 subject to further developments.
The carrier has already shut lounge operations and also suspended international flights in the last few weeks in measures responding to COVID10 and Thai Immigration rules.
The small boutique carrier Bangkok Airways, mostly known for their frequencies between Bangkok and Samui but also operating a greater range of domestic and a few international destinations if therefore effectively grounded.
News about this recent and all other announcements can be found in their media centre here.
Dear our passengers,
To ensure the safety and public health against the complicated developments of the Coronavirus pandemic, Bangkok Airways will suspend all domestic flights from April 7 to April 30, 2020.
Passengers who book tickets through our website and have confirmed tickets belongs to above case please contact through our 24/7 supporting email: reservations@bangkokairlines.org for refunding/rerouting/rescheduling and further support.
We deeply apologize for any inconvenience and sincerely thank for customers’ support during the last time.
Bangkok Airlines Team.
At least Bangkok Airways openly speaks about refunds of flights and not vouchers.
This isn’t the only development though. Last week PG announced the closure of their lounge operations as well:
In order to prevent and minimize the risk of the spread of Coronavirus pandemic, Bangkok Airways temporarily closed its lounges at Suvarnabhumi and other airports from April 1, 2020 until further notice.
Bangkok Airways’ Blue Ribbon Club Lounges, Boutique Lounges, courtesy corners and Kiosks which include lounges at these will be closed temporarily:
- Suvarnabhumi Airport,
- Samui Airport,
- Sukhothai Airport,
- Trat Airport,
- Chiang Mai International Airport,
- Phuket International Airport,
- Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai International Airport,
- Krabi International Airport,
- Mae Hong Son Airport,
- Lampang Airport,
- U-Tapao Rayong-Pattaya International Airport,
- Phnom Penh International Airport (Cambodia)
- And Luang Prabang International Airport (Laos).
Passengers who have purchased business lounge upgrade, please contact us through our 24/7 supporting email: reservations@bangkokairlines.org for further advise.
Without flights it makes very little sense of course to offer any lounge services so that’s only a logical step ahead of what was about to come.
And of course a few days before that all international routes were already pulled as well with the exceptions of a few Vietnam routes:
Due to the serious development of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangkok Airways will suspend the operation of all international routes in Bangkok Airlines’s network. …
The period to suspend operation is from March 22, 2020 until further notice.
Passengers who book tickets through our website and have confirmed tickets belongs to above flights please contact through our 24/7 supporting email: reservations@bangkokairlines.org for refunding and further support.
We sincerely thanks for your cooperation during the last time and look forward to receiving your understanding for this inconvenience caused.
Bangkok Airlines Team.
Hopefully Bangkok Airways will soon be back in the air again. This means though that people on Koh Samui are more or less trapped without any other flight connections even to Bangkok.
If you’re currently on Samui and seek to get out I suggest to do so as soon as possible and not wait until the 6th (last day of operations) as availability is limited and now flights are selling out quickly even in the next few days.
Conclusion
As a small boutique airline and their niche of Samui connections (Bangkok Airways actually owns USM Airport) I can see them being in a comfortable position after operations resume. There is always demand for domestic travel within Thailand and especially to Koh Samui, a popular holiday destination.
Their exposure to costly, potentially loss making (since empty) international routes is limited and if they feel these routes are a liability they could always pull them without a huge impact on the overall network.
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