Thai Smile says hello Mumbai

All smiles for Thai Smile airways

Thai Smile, the regional airline and subsidiary of Thai Airways, expanded its Indian connectivity by introducing direct flights from Bangkok to Mumbai.

Thai Smile which has been operating in India since the last quarter of 2016 already has direct flights from Bangkok to Jaipur, Lucknow, Gaya and Varanasi. The recent addition of Bangkok-Mumbai has been in sync with Mumbai airport’s crowd pulling capacity. Mumbai is an important and old Indian seaport, which also serves as a popular tourist attraction apart from being the film capital of India.

Relish countless flavors of THAI Smile with Jain Vegetarian & Non-vegetarian meals on-board! #flydirect with #thaismileairways to
Bangkok, Thailand from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur, Rajasthan, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and Gaya, Bihar. pic.twitter.com/PHJnOju0an

— Thai Smile India (@ThaiSmileIndia) November 10, 2017

The new route will promote and aid travellers who are travelling for different purposes, be it leisure, corporate or MICE travellers while promoting Bangkok as a multifaceted destination. GVK Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL), the company that operates the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), saw the arrival of the maiden flight of Thai Smile in October. The airline will operate 5 flights in a week on the Mumbai-Bangkok route- Bangkok – Mumbai (BKK-BOM) on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 22.15-01.35 (+1), WE335 Bangkok – Mumbai (BKK-BOM) on Friday and Sunday at 23.55-03.10 and WE336 Mumbai – Bangkok (BOM-BKK) on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 02.40-08.55 and WE336 Mumbai – Bangkok (BOM-BKK) on Monday and Saturday at 04.40-10.55.

In the past few months, CSIA has been successful in establishing route connectivity to various new destinations, namely Jakarta (by Garuda Indonesia), Bali (by AirAsia X Indonesia), Brussels (by Brussels Airlines), Kigali (by Rwandair), Toronto (by Air Canada) and Beijing (by Air China). A key gateway to India, the Mumbai International Airport has over 45 airlines operating to 48 destinations from the city to various parts of the world. According to a published report, “In FY 2017, CSIA, Mumbai welcomed 45.2 million air travellers (12.4 million international passengers) registering an annual growth of 8 pc. CSIA’s strategic location makes it an ideal airport to connect the passengers from entire India to the world. In addition to this, the airport ranked second in the foreign tourist arrivals in India in FY 2017, constituting 17 pc of the country’s total foreign tourist arrivals and contributing 20 pc to India’s total tourists’ arrival on e-Tourist Visa. With 31 catchment airports within the flying range of 45 to 150 minutes, CSIA transferred 9.25 million passengers in FY 2017.”

An official of Thai Smile said, “We are glad to have introduced this new direct flight from Bangkok to Mumbai. Thailand gets a lot of inbound Indian travellers and the number is just increasing every year. To cater to that need and growth, we decided to expand. We are planning newer routes as a part of our Thai Airways expansion plan.”

Introduction of the new route is a part of Thai Airways Group’s regional network expansion plan for 2017 using its full-service subsidiary Thai Smile. Thai Smile has launched or resumed services to eight international destinations in 2017 especially across Southeast Asia, India and China. This was crucial given its recent expansion in Europe.