Thai Lion Air focuses on domestic expansion, quickly gains scale on Bangkok to Chiang Mai & Hat Yai

Thai Lion Air is focusing primarily on domestic expansion with a mix of trunk and regional routes. Thai Lion currently operates four domestic routes, three of which were launched in Mar-2014 as the carrier took delivery of two additional 737-900ERs for a total of four and its first ATR 72.

International expansion will take a back seat in response to sagging inbound demand due to the continued civil unrest in Bangkok. But the start-up is experimenting with two regional international routes.

Thai Lion faces intensifying competition and challenging market conditions. But the medium to long-term outlook remains relatively bright as the Thai market should be able to support more LCC capacity, both domestically and internationally.