Spring Airlines Gets Busy in Thailand

China's Spring Airlines is deepening its footprint over Thailand-China skies with the introduction of additionalroutes to tap soaring traffic between the two countries.

The fledgling Shanghai-based no-frills carrier is set to commence its eighth route to Thailand, from Changchun, capital of Jilin province, to Bangkok, on Nov. 3.

It also plans to serve the two northeastern provinces of Ubon Ratchathani and Udon Thani from China while exploring the opportunity to make U-tapao on the east coast another port of call.

The airline is to offer four flights per week from Changchun to Bangkok, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, airline insiders confirmed yesterday.

Spring Airlines, China's first and East Asia's largest low-fare carrier, is aggressively expanding its presence in Thailand, largely to tap China's fast-growing outbound tourist traffic to one of the most popular overseas destinations for Chinese.

The airline is bringing about 60,000 Chinese to Thailand each month and the number will grow as more frequencies and further routes are added in the future, airline insiders said.

Spring Airlines has expanded its profile in Thailand rapidly since it first descended into Bangkok on Aug. 10, 2012, with a daily non-stop flight from Shanghai.

Founded in 2005 by Spring Travel, the dominant player in China's booming travel sector, it now operates four routes from its Shanghai base to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi and Phuket, with frequent services.

From Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, the airline also offers regular services to Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shijiazhuang.

The one-way fares for its flights to Thailand start from as little as 100 yuan (560 baht).

There are 56 narrow-body A320 jets, each configured with 184 seats, in its fleet operating on a network of more than 90 domestic and international destinations.