There is no stopping flights to Thailand as Indians make the most of visa-free arrival
Up to 110 additional weekly flights in Jan 2025 versus Jan 2024 as Thailand extended the visa-free arrival for Indians indefinitely.
In December, more airlines will start services between India and Thailand. On the back of Indians getting into the “free-visa” category into Thailand from November 2023 and subsequent extension this November, airlines are consolidating their position in the market like never before. This sees some new airlines on the route like Thai VietJet and some airlines returning between the two countries like Nok Air. Air India’s low cost subsidiary Air India Express will also be a new airline to operate between the two countries as it launches flights to Bangkok from Surat and Pune in December. The “visa-free” travel which was initially announced till May 2024, was subsequently extended until November this year and now further extended indefinitely.
Between January 2025 and January this year, there has been an increase of 110 weekly departures between India and Thailand which has led to an addition of 19,848 weekly seats each way, shows data shared by Cirium - an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this article.
There are 32 airport pairs between India and Thailand after the new carriers start services. 18 destinations in India are connected to three points in Thailand, Bangkok - Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok - Don Mueang, both serving Bangkok and Phuket. Indian airlines have thus far not ventured to secondary cities in Thailand and it could be time someone explores.
As of October 20, local media in Thailand reported 1.64 million arrivals from Indians, citing the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The wedding season, followed by honeymooners and then the year end holiday season will likely see Indians cross the 1.96 million arrivals from Indians which was pre-COVID.
New Airlines continue to join the party
Of the 110 additional flights, 91 are either by new airlines or amongst new city pairs. This includes Thai VietJet, Nok Air, Thai AirAsia and Thai Lion Air. Interestingly, Thai Lion, Thai AirAsia X and Thai VietJet are subsidiaries of Lion Air group, AirAsia Bhd and Vietjet respectively, all of which have considerable presence in India and are now extending their presence with subsidiaries from other countries in ASEAN.
IndiGo and Air India have both added flights, with IndiGo adding 36 weekly departures, which includes new city pairs like Pune - Bangkok, and adding frequency from metros. The Tier II cities will also see connectivity with Surat being connected by Air India Express.
The Indian carriers fly 42% of all frequencies between the two countries and offer 39.8% of all seats. IndiGo remains the market leader in frequencies with 84 weekly flights, followed by Thai Airways at 82 weekly seats. In terms of seats, Thai Airways offers more seats as it operates wide body aircraft on multiple routes to India. Thai AirAsia is the third largest carrier between the two countries, both by frequency and seats on offer.
India still smaller to China
Thailand, as many countries in ASEAN, has been heavily dependent on Chinese tourists. When China did not open up as quickly as others on the other side of COVID, Thailand as well as Malaysia started wooing Indians. The non-stop flights between China and Thailand would stand at 1173 weekly flights with 212,271 weekly seats; while those between India and Thailand stand at 369 weekly flights with 73,422 weekly seats.
The difference is that, the India - Thailand connectivity has grown 14% in terms of frequencies and 11% in terms of seats on offer. However, the China - Thailand market is yet to be back at pre-COVID levels with 8% lower frequencies and 13% lower seats.
Data shared by Cleartrip shows that bookings to Phuket are up 2.3 times year on year and despite the increase in airfare, they are currently 16% lower than previous year. These new destinations are also a replacement of Maldives, where Indian arrivals have dropped drastically with the destination now being out of favor.
Tail Note
Amidst the controversy over Goa, Thailand has turned out to be an option for Indian travellers to have another stamp on the passport and more instagram worthy spots, shopping avenues, a mix of night-life and family friendly places gives everyone what they are looking for.
There have been reports of revision of bilateral agreements between India and Thailand early this year. It is one of the rare cases where both sides are utilising the rights extensively and willing to increase services. How many more flights will there be?
