One of the once most massive tourism markets for Thailand is in no hurry to return to the country. Moreover, 10 airlines canceled flights from China to Thailand for one reason. As the Nation assures, due to the economic downturn in China, the demand for tours is far from the same as before, the decline is about half, as a result, carriers cancel flights in December-January due to a much smaller number of orders.
In numbers, experts imagine it like this. Suttipong Kongpul, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), said 10 Chinese airlines have announced the cancellation of flights to Thailand from next month until January 2024. Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, Spring Airlines, China Southern, Shenzhen Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Ok Airways, Hainan Airlines, and Beijing Capital announced the cancellations.
As the expert said, 10,939 flights were planned for December, but only 5,858 were confirmed, that is, their number decreased by 46%. For January 2024, out of the planned 10,984 flights, 7,420 flights have been confirmed so far, i.e. 32% less.
Piyasawat Amranand, CEO of Thai Airways International’s Business Recovery Plan, attributed the cancellations to China’s economic downturn and policies to boost domestic tourism. At the same time, he noted that the provision of free visas to Chinese citizens did not lead to an influx of tourists. Currently, the recovery in arrivals from China is around 40% compared to pre-Covid (2019). As a result, the Thai carriers said they would divert aircraft prepared for the Chinese market “to potentially viable markets”.
For the Chinese New Year at the beginning of February, Thai airlines also do not have good orders yet. However, the situation will become more precise at the end of December.