The president of Thai Airways International, which is set to launch its Bangkok-Tehran flight in October, is excited about the latest addition to the airline’s expanding network.
Charamporn Jotikasthira, president of Thai Airways International, announced on Wednesday that the national airline plans to open a Tehran service and resume flights to Moscow it discontinued in March last year.
The Tehran route will start in October three times weekly and Moscow’s will resume in November with four flights each week, Nikkei reported.
“The people there are wealthy and very sophisticated,” Executive Vice President Teerapol Chotichanapibal told reporters about Iran.
He said a team that went to Tehran returned “really excited” about prospects. The flag-carrier is in good company with budget airline Thai AirAsia X inaugurating its Tehran route later this month.
Iranian airline Mahan Air recently increased its weekly flights from Tehran to Bangkok to six. Once both Thai airlines launch their new routes, there will be a total of 12 weekly flights between Iran and Thailand.
Qeshm Air, another Iranian airline, operates on the same route in different periods of the year, according to Aviation Iran.
As for Moscow, Charamporn said reduced competition had been key to reinstating the service.
“Rivals who are low-cost already closed down their businesses,” he said, leaving only full-service carriers. He added that Russians tend to travel east rather than west for tourism and business.
According to Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism, Russians accounted for 3% of total inbound tourists with some 884,000 arriving last year.
