Jet Airways (Mumbai International) plans to take advantage of Fifth and Sixth Freedom traffic rights in place between Thailand and India and develop Bangkok Suvarnabhumi into a regional East Asian mini-hub.
The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in late 2015 and its associated Open Skies policy will foster the carrier's international expansion plans by allowing it to open up routes within a 3 to 5-hour radius from Bangkok.
"That's the way to go, and we should see something happening over the next two years," Wallop Bhukkanasut, Jet Airways' chief executive and vice-president for Southeast Asia and Australasia, told the Bangkok Post. "We need to get in before all the flight slots are taken by others."
The Indian carrier has already set its plan in motion with multiple daily Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, flights launching early last month. The route acts as an extension of existing services to Thailand from Mumbai International and Delhi International.
To date, the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Brunei — have already concluded several multilateral agreements that will allow for the creation of a single commercial aviation market from 2015 onwards.
