Thai's Air Andaman scraps S'pore route

Thai's Air Andaman scraps S'pore route

BANGKOK: Grounded Thai carrier Air Andaman is struggling to
survive a double-whammy of record high fuel costs and cut-throat
competition as it scrapped plans for its Bangkok-Singapore
flights, the airline said in a report Friday.

One of Thailand's first low-budget carriers to emerge after
industry deregulation began here a decade ago, Air Andaman
stopped flying altogether in July after a steady phase-out of
routes and will be hard-pressed to stay in business.

"We have canceled our plan to fly to Singapore," Air Andaman
executive director Atichart Athakravisunthorn said in the Nation
newspaper, adding the carrier was being squeezed out by bigger
and more aggressive budget airlines currently engaged in a dog
fight over Asia.

Air Andaman, which owns no aircraft but had been leasing small
planes in its fleet, had been due to jump start the service June
1.

Earlier this year after abandoning domestic routes, Air
Andaman had planned to focus on short regional routes that were
largely ignored by bigger carriers, but a surge in fuel prices by
more than a third this year and the arrival of low-cost airlines
signaled hard times ahead.--AFP