At the end of June, the Tourism Authority of Thailand met with representatives of airlines and the tourism industry in Bangkok. Negotiations were devoted, among other things, to the resumption of air traffic. The Thai Air Asia X airline then expressed its readiness to consider the possibility of launching flights to Russia. Yesterday, July 7, the carrier announced its decision.

Thailand, before the pandemic, for many years occupied a strong position in the Russian market as the leading Asian destination, annually receiving about 1.5 million Russians. Today, for all known reasons, the direction cannot boast of the same volumes.

DIRECT FLIGHTS ARE NEEDED TO RESTORE THE TOURIST FLOW TO THAILAND

The main factor in the issue of restoring the Russian tourist flow to the kingdom, in addition to the ease of entry already accepted in the country, is the resumption of direct flights.

< p>Thailand is interested in the return of Russian tourists, and therefore the country is actively working to ensure that the kingdom and Russia are again connected by direct flights.

At the end of June in Bangkok, as part of a meeting with TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand ), a representative of Thai Air Asia X said that the carrier is ready to consider the possibility of setting up direct flights from Thailand to Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostok. The airline took several weeks to resolve the necessary issues.

THE PROSPECTS FOR DIRECT FLIGHTS TO THAILAND ARE SO MUCH

Yesterday, July 7, it became known about the carrier's decision. Andrey Snetkov, General Director of TEZ TOUR Thailand, shared with ATOR Vestnik the answer received from the airline to the question about the resumption of flights. Here it is in full:

“After some time working on the insurance issue, I regret to inform you that we are unable to operate any flights to Russia due to insurance restrictions. However, we hope to be able to serve you on other routes in the near future. Thank you very much for your understanding.”

Thus, at the moment, the prospects for the resumption of Thai Air Asia X flights to Russia are not encouraging.

In June Titiporn Manenate, executive director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), told Vestnik ATOR that in addition to Thai Air Asia X, flights to Russia from Thailand, or rather to Moscow, are being considered by Thai Airways. However, so far no news has been received from this carrier regarding flights to the Russian Federation.

RUSSIAN AIRLINES CANNOT FLY TO THAILAND YET

As for Russian airlines, the possibility of direct flights to Thailand for them, of course, is also being discussed. But here, too, the timing is vague. To date, the kingdom has not given the Federal Air Transport Agency a guarantee of the inviolability of Russian aircraft. And this means that almost any Russian aircraft, taken at one time in Western leasing, in Thailand can be detained at the request of the lessor.

Meanwhile, the experts remain hopeful. They say that in any case, the process has been launched and it is possible that this issue will be resolved by the beginning of the winter season, or specific dates will be set.

In the meantime, Russian tourists get to Thailand on connecting flights. And they do it actively. Demand for Thailand, according to experts, shows very good performance.

In order to save on flights, Russians book tours in advance. The depth of bookings reaches January 2023, representatives of Russian tour operators working in the direction said in a recent conversation with ATOR Vestnik.

But, of course, it will be possible to talk about the return of mass tourism from Russia to Thailand only after the resumption of direct flights.

Alexandra Polyanskaya