Thailand: LCCs bite into legacy carriers' air traffic

As low-cost carriers' portion of air traffic continues to soar in Thailand, legacy airlines are seeing their share of the sky shrink. LCCs accounted for 46.2% of all passengers moving through the country's six main airports in the first half of the year, up from 43.9% in the same period last year. Rising in tandem was the share of flights operated by LCCs, which accounted for 47.6% of overall aircraft movements recorded in the January-June period, compared with 43.7% in the previous period. LCCs have played an increasingly large role in the air transport industry, with their popularity growing among travellers because of their highly competitive fares relative to legacy airlines, fast-expanding networks and rising travel demand. Figures sourced from Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) showed that LCCs increased their passenger numbers in the first half of the year by 13.7% to 30.5m. LCC passengers showed robust double-digit growth both internationally and domestically at 14.1% and 13.5%, respectively, to 10.9m and 19.6m. All six of the AoT-run airports saw double-digit growth in LCC passengers, who contributed to congestion at the country's three busiest airports:<br/>Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and Phuket.<br/>