Shanghai Airlines has announced plans to increase its flights between China and Thailand to tap growing passenger and cargo traffic.
The carrier has started a new route, from China’s newly emerging economic province of Chongqing to Bangkok, and is aiming to have a direct service between Shanghai and Bangkok by the end of the year.
The carrier has offered all-freighter services between Bangkok and Shanghai with three flights a week since 2006 using Boeing 757 freighters with 30 tonnes of capacity.
Late last year, Shanghai Airlines doubled the number of flights between Shanghai and Phuket to four a week and the airline started flying Shanghai Phuket route two years ago on a ‘regular charter’ basis.
Nearly one million Chinese tourists visited Thailand last year and the Tourism Authority of Thailand expects the number to reach 1.3 million this year with Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui being the most popular destinations. Freight movements between the two countries have also been surging due to growing trade volume with significant shipments of IT components from Thailand to China.