Thai AirAsia plans rapid domestic and international growth in 2014 despite challenging conditions

Thai AirAsia is planning more rapid expansion in 2014 despite the challenging market conditions in Thailand. The carrier aims to grow passenger traffic by 27% in 2014 to 13.3 million as eight A320s are added to its fleet for a total of 43 aircraft.

Thai AirAsia plans to continue growing in both the domestic and international markets with a combination of new routes and additional frequencies. The domestic expansion comes amid increasing competition while the international market expansion comes despite sagging demand due to the civil unrest in Bangkok.

Among all the existing AirAsia short-haul affiliates, Thai AirAsia is pursuing the fastest growth in 2014 and is alone in opting against slowing down fleet expansion. The decision to continue with rapid expansion is strategic as AirAsia seeks to maintain its leading position in Thailand's low-cost sector as competition increases.