LONDON – The Philippines never fails to disappoint in terms of aviation recovery in a post-Covid19 world. On July 15, Air Asia Philippines announced that they will resume flights to key markets of Bangkok, Thailand and Bali, Indonesia in the 3rd Quarter of 2022.
This is a positive signal for the airline as post-pandemic travel starts to rebound significantly.
Voted the world’s best low-cost airlines consecutively for numerous years, the airline is set to return to one of Asia’s most exciting cities, the “City of Smiles” – or “the Amsterdam of the East”, or the “Place where Hangover 2 happened” – Bangkok Thailand.
The airline will fly to the city’s secondary airport Don Muang International Airport twice weekly every Wednesday and Sunday as of July 17th.
Meanwhile, AirAsia Philippines will also make a comeback to Bali, Indonesia as of the 17 July, also with twice-weekly flights flying every Friday and Sunday to Denpasar Ngurah Rai International Airport.
It goes without saying that the airline will celebrate the return of these flights to Bali, offering massive discounts on tickets via the ‘Island Getaways to Bali’ promo. Passengers can enjoy a one-way fare of PHP 4,077 to the Indonesian island. To qualify, bookings have to be made from 4th to 24th July 2022 with a travel date not exceeding 25th March 2023.
Moreover, passengers may book their flights from the Philippines to destinations beyond Bali. This includes other destinations such as Bali, Lombok, Pekanbaru, Surabaya, and other cities and holiday destinations via App. The AirAsia Super App was an innovative solution for the airline to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Ricky Isla, AirAsia Philippines CEO said, “Reopening our Bangkok and Bali routes is part of our aggressive route expansion strategy as we sustain the momentum to recovery.”
“In terms of our pre-pandemic figures, Bangkok ranked 7th among the most visited destinations with Bali claiming the 10th spot out of the 32 AirAsia Philippines domestic and international routes.”
By observing the pre-Covid data, the number shows that there were altogether 139,296 AirAsia Philippines passengers or a total of 92% passenger load factor between Manila and Bangkok in 2019.
Meanwhile, in the Bali and Manila sectors, the airline carried an average of 90% passenger load or 110,694 passengers during the same period respectively.
Preliminary Schedule
Manila – Bangkok: AirAsia will carry flight number Z2 287 which departs Manila’s NAIA Terminal 3 at 5:35 pm and arrives in Bangkok Don Mueang at 8:05 pm. The return sector will carry flight number Z2 288, departing Bangkok Don Mueang at 8:35 pm and arriving at NAIA T3 at 1:05 am the following day.
Manila – Bali: For the Bali sector, the flight will leave as AirAsia Z2 231 which departs NAIA Terminal 3 at 9:15 pm and arrives in Bali Ngurah Rai at 11:15 pm. Its return leg to Manila will carry flight number lZ2 232, leaving Bali at 11:40 pm and arriving in Manila at 3:40 am the next day.
Bangkok is arguably the top tourist destination in Asia if not the world. Believe it or not, the Thai capital is home to the most Instagrammed places on earth, and is a stone’s throw away from white sand beaches, temples and great food.
Filipino travellers love Bangkok and Bali as they are amongst the top favourite destinations. Before the pandemic, nearly 500,000 Filipinos travelled to Thailand while approximately 260,980 went to Indonesia.
