Late jet delays Bangkok Airway's new China launches

Bangkok Airways' planned launch of regular services from Samui to Guangzhou and Chongqing are stalled by aircraft capacity constraints. The inauguration of Samui-Guangzhou flights has been put off to sometime in December, one month behind the original date, while the Samui-Chongqing service is now scheduled to launch at the end of March instead of December as previously planned. The SET-listed full-service airline blamed the late delivery of its 13th Airbus 319, the jet specified for those Chinese routes. Bangkok Airways wants to open In July of this year, the airline began the link with the start of Samui-Chengdu flights four times per week. This marked the relaunch of its China service for the first time in seven years. Bangkok Airways wants to develop Samui, where it owns the sole airport, as a Thai destination of choice for Chinese, allowing it to avoid intense competition from the capital to destinations operated by an assortment of legacy and budget carriers. The airline will commence its Samui-Guangzhou service with four flights per week in December before ramping up to a daily basis in January. <br/>