BANGKOK - Domestic carrier Air Andaman will return to the skies in May, after halting operations on all of its eight routes in February to carry out restructuring and to develop a new business strategy.
Starting May 1, the privately-owned airline will launch a daily Bangkok-Singapore service as well as four flights a week from Bangkok to Singapore via Phuket.
Two nine-year-old Boeing 737-400s leased from Asia Express International will be used on the new routes, replacing its three turboprop Fokker F-50 aircraft, repossessed by the company’s creditor.
Atichart Athakravisunthorn, Air Andaman’s executive director, said new local investors had enabled the company to carry out debt and shareholder restructuring, resulting in the recruitment of new management.
He said Dean Aaron Mills, a veteran in the hospitality industry, had been appointed as the airline’s new president and would work towards position the carrier as a quality alternative to budget carriers.
Mills said Andaman Air would avoid domestic routes for the time being until it had a clearer picture of the role of low-cost carriers in the domestic market. In the meantime, he said it would offer a more flexible one-fare-service, with no penalty charges for flight changes.
He added that the carrier would set itself apart from budget airlines by offering low fares with a premium culinary service.
The airline’s first Boeing will be delivered in April with the second aircraft, to be based in Phuket, arriving soon after.