Bangkok Airways has tough Q1 amid tourism travails

Bangkok Airways saw its first quarter operating loss widen to B677m ($21.5m) from B284m a year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic continued its relentless pressure on Thailand tourism. Revenues dived 78.8% to B1.4b in the three months ended 31 March, while net losses ballooned to B756m from B338m, according to the airline’s results statement. The airline states that Covid-19 is an “unprecedented crisis” for Thailand’s Tourism economy, despite initiatives by the government to relax restrictions for travelers flying for business, medical treatments, or special tourist visas. It noted that tourism arrivals are down 99.7% from a year earlier. During the quarter Bangkok Airways generated just B286m in passenger revenue, down from B4.4b a year earlier. Capacity as measured by ASKs fell 89.6%, while RPKs fell 80% from the first three months of 2020. Overall load factors for the quarter fell 3.3 percentage points to 58.8%, with the number of flights flown falling 85.6% to 2,464.<br/>