THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: Low-cost regional carrier AirAsia has flagged its intentions to list on the both the Thailand and Malaysian stock exchanges, while also announcing increased flights from Thailand to India.

Kathleen Tan, regional head (commercial) of AirAsia, said the airline will commence flights from Calcutta to Bangkok and from Calcutta to Phuket next year, with flights from Amritsar to Bangkok also being mooted.

Though no time-table for the new flights being introduced was announced, Ms. Tan said “by next year there will be three routes from Thailand to India”.

AirAsia Group chief executive, Tony Fernandes, said listing on the Malaysian and Thailand stock exchanges will give the company more of a Southeast Asian identity.

“We are an Asean company. We want many Asean investors to buy our shares”, he said.

Established in 1993, AirAsia and its subsidiaries, AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia, currently operate a predominantly Airbus fleet of jet aircraft with a total fleet size of 78 aircraft and 144 more ordered for delivery by 2016. By May 2008, the airline had flown 55 million passengers.

By: John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for November 28, 2009