As I mentioned in a separate article last week Thai Authorities have allowed air travel on certain domestic routes again as the lockdown in the country is easing up in stages.
All of these flights are operated by budget carriers while full service carriers Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways remain grounded for the time being.
All flights are operated by Air Asia, Nok Air and Thai Lion Air from a variety of airports.
As far as Bangkok is concerned all flights are handled at Don Mueang Airport and passengers are bound to restrictions of local governments that include ID checks, restrictions for foreigners to travel at all as well as quarantine requirements after arrival.
Here is an example for Hat Yai Airport:
Information which routes are available to travel on can be obtained from the airlines directly:
Here is an example of the measures taken by Lion Air:
Thai Lion Air is ready to operate for domestic routes on Friday, May 1, 2020. The flights will resume to operate to Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Hat Yai, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Thai Lion Air would like to inform all passengers with the airline’s safety measures, please follow the recommendation below;
- Please wear mask all the time. Since entering to the passenger terminal area and during the flight. Passengers without masks, the airline may need to deny boarding.
- Please check in 1 hour before the departure time, as the airline will have the processes for temperature screening passengers before boarding. If a body temperature of the passenger higher than 37.3 degrees Celsius, have coughing, wheezing or is considered a surveillance person, the airline may need to deny boarding. The check-in counter will be closed 45 minutes before departure time.
- Please observe the floor markers given for passengers. The airline has marked for social distancing from the checkpoints, in the bus, aero bridge, passenger steps and the airline also provide seat distancing on board for passengers in every flight.
- No food and beverage service during the flights. And food and beverage are not allowed to be eaten onboard
- Passengers have to fill out a health declaration form which will be distributed to passengers at the boarding gate
- Please follow the advice of ground staff and cabin crew in all cases.
- The airline allows passengers to carry only one baggage on board. The baggage size must not exceed than 30x40x20 CM and the weight is not over 7 kilograms. If the passengers bring the baggage more than that size, the staff will load your baggage and collect excess baggage.
- Passengers can carry liquids in the amount specified such as hand sanitizer gel, can bring on board no more than 350 ml, but the total volume of liquids must not exceed 1,000 ml. However, the packaging must be sealed and there is a message clearly indicating the quantity of the package.
All cabin crew will be checked for body temperature before the flight. And will be in proactive equipment with masks and gloves throughout the service. After the flight, the airline will clean and disinfect the aircraft every time. In order to work together to prevent the Covid-19, Thai Lion Air provides safety and hygiene in every flight. And don’t forget to check your flight before traveling at www.lionairthai.com, Mobile applications, and Thai Lion Air sales counter at the airports.
You can expect that similar measures are in place with most other carriers as well once they start operating.
Noticeably absent from the list are Phuket and Koh Samui which remain closed at least for air traffic.
Conclusion
It was just a matter of time for the basic travel lockdown and public life restrictions to be lifted again as this isn’t something that can last forever.
As far as these domestic but also international flights are concerned I recently wrote about Thai Airways grounding it’s domestic fleet for several months to come. Thai has publicly denied this but you can’t book any flights with them right now until July when International connections are supposed to start again. Thai does offer domestic connections to these international flights but only one a day to feed passengers to BKK Airport. These flights can not be booked standalone.
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