Thai Smile (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) will have to apply to each respective country's civil aviation authority for its own international traffic rights the Bangkok Post has reported. The carrier was founded in 2012 to help fill the market gap between low-cost carriers and full service airlines.
However, having gained its own separate Air Operators Certificate (AOC) in addition to its own unique flightcode in April last year, regional CAAs say they will no longer allow the Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) subsidiary to ride its parent's coat tails.
Troubles began late last year when the Department of Civil Aviation of Lao PDR (DCA) objected to Thai allowing Thai Smile to operate Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Vientiane flights on its behalf. The Laotians claimed such use of Thai Smile constituted a violation of Laos' Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with Thailand.
Though the airline's only international service under its own AOC is to Macau International, Chalongchai Hiranyalekha, chief commercial adviser to THAI Smile, said requisite applications aside, the carrier is looking to serve Yangon, Mandalay International, Hyderabad International, Colombo International, Chongqing, Phnom Penh and Luang Prabang from July.
