filipinoavgeek wrote:

To start things off, did anyone know what happened to Jet Asia? Cranky Flier's annual Airlines We Lost feature said they closed down (without giving details) and I couldn't find any (non-paywalled) news reports explaining what happened.

Thai Vietjet has confirmed its operation of weekly semi-commercial flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi International Airport) every Friday starting January 8, 2021, with the hope to gradually recover the travel and trade between the two countries after a long suspension since March this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Antaras wrote:

filipinoavgeek wrote:

To start things off, did anyone know what happened to Jet Asia? Cranky Flier's annual Airlines We Lost feature said they closed down (without giving details) and I couldn't find any (non-paywalled) news reports explaining what happened.

To be honest, I never heard of this carrier, and even though it is Jetstar Asia (?!).
Even Google has been thinking of the same thing so that I found it hard to find any kind of information about this carrier as all I received from Google are about Jetstar Asia?!

Vietnam is not considering a resumption of international commercial flights with the Covid-19 situation remaining intense globally and vaccine distribution uncertain.
The pandemic has been complicated by the appearance of a new coronavirus variant, with no certainty a vaccine would be distributed on a large scale this year, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong told press Monday.

Resumption of tourism activities would only occur when deemed safe, he stressed.

Vietnam suspended commercial international flights in late March last year to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

However, the country still allows a limited number of flights for experts, businesspeople, workers and overseas Vietnamese, who are all quarantined by up to 14 days upon arrival.

mjba257 wrote:

Will we ever see nonstop flights from BKK to the US? Would a BKK-LAX or BKK-SFO work on UA or Thai Airways?

ZK-NBT wrote:

mjba257 wrote:

Will we ever see nonstop flights from BKK to the US? Would a BKK-LAX or BKK-SFO work on UA or Thai Airways?

Yes between 2005-12 TG flew BKK-LAX and BKK-JFK with A340-500s, its said they lost bucket loads, fuel prices got really expensive and the whole thing was pulled including the A340-500 fleet at TG. I can't see TG going back and I wouldn't think UA would try it either, given the current times however you never know if UA might give it a go from SFO with a 789, leisure route but even some previously popular business routes will take a while to rebound.

Antaras wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

mjba257 wrote:

Will we ever see nonstop flights from BKK to the US? Would a BKK-LAX or BKK-SFO work on UA or Thai Airways?

Yes between 2005-12 TG flew BKK-LAX and BKK-JFK with A340-500s, its said they lost bucket loads, fuel prices got really expensive and the whole thing was pulled including the A340-500 fleet at TG. I can't see TG going back and I wouldn't think UA would try it either, given the current times however you never know if UA might give it a go from SFO with a 789, leisure route but even some previously popular business routes will take a while to rebound.

But did Thailand recover its CAT I certification or still CAT II?
If it didn't, not a surprise if we see nonstop flights from Vietnam before Thailand. Actually, Vietnam did, with some nonstop flights to SFO/IAH/IAD.

moa999 wrote:

I'm amazed Starlux hasn't gone bust.
For the timing almost perfectly wrong.

Vietjet Air reports a profitable year in 2020 despite the pandemic, banking on ancillary revenue and cargo.

The airline posted a consolidated after-tax profit of Đ70 billion ($3 million) for the period, it said in a 31 January statement.

It adds that ancillary revenue accounted for nearly half of its total revenue, “showcasing Vietjet’s efforts to promote ancillary services to offset decreasing air travel revenue”.

The airline has made “drastic cuts to operating expenses”, trimming 10% from fleet operations, securing 20-25% discounts with suppliers and a further 10% reduction in daily operating costs. Notably, the airline has had “no workforce reduction”.

Vietjet says that it “successfully hedged” jet fuel in May 2020, resulting in 25% cost savings versus market price.

In 2020, the airline operated 78,462 flights and carried more than 15 million passengers, while load factor was over 80%.

The airline says it has since resumed flying across its entire domestic network of over 47 routes.

It states: “The airline has received support from the government for tax discounts, tax-payment extensions and reductions in landing/take-off fee, ground services fee and air control fee, as well as being considered for the government’s financial aid proposal for local airlines.”

Antaras wrote:

Besides that, I am a bit worried about the Thai Aviation Market. The dominance of foreign-owned carriers such as AirAsia, VietjetAir, and Lion Air seems (obviously) threatening and killing Thai carriers such as PG, TG, and DD. I don't know if the Thai authorities need to take action to protect its aviation market.

Following the situation in recent days (March 2021), Burmese citizens have been observed continuing to protest and use bricks, public trash, and barriers on the roads, obstructing traffic on many routes in the downtown of Yangon. At the same time, through verification, the police said that the Yangon area continued the curfew from 8 PM the previous day to 4 AM the next morning. Currently, at the roundabout near the airport, the police have set up a checkpoint. Therefore, to timely check-in for a separate flight (by Covid-19) to bring citizens home tomorrow (March 4, 2021), the Embassy recommends citizens pay attention to the time to avoid missing flight, as follows:
Citizens are far from the airport, so soon move from today, temporarily rent hotels, motels at locations near the airport;
- Observe the situation and developments around the area where we live. If there is a phenomenon of the street being blocked, blocking the aisles, it is necessary to calculate a reasonable travel time, promptly arrive at the airport for procedures;
- If citizens are asked when passing through this station, citizens explain to the police that the citizens are going to the RGN airport to return home.
The Embassy would like to inform and request that people pay close attention to timely procedures.

The Embassy of S.R. Vietnam in Yangon, Republic of the Union of Myanmar, would like to announce./.

Yangon, March 3, 2021.

Antaras wrote:

The government of S.R. Vietnam decided to operate a "rescue" repatriation flight, to be operated tomorrow by Vietnam Airlines. The route will be RGN-DAD, holding up to 390 pax, and this is a surprisingly high number of pax as VN's biggest aircraft is the B78X only has 367 seats.
Besides that, the authorities had some notes:

Following the situation in recent days (March 2021), Burmese citizens have been observed continuing to protest and use bricks, public trash, and barriers on the roads, obstructing traffic on many routes in the downtown of Yangon. At the same time, through verification, the police said that the Yangon area continued the curfew from 8 PM the previous day to 4 AM the next morning. Currently, at the roundabout near the airport, the police have set up a checkpoint. Therefore, to timely check-in for a separate flight (by Covid-19) to bring citizens home tomorrow (March 4, 2021), the Embassy recommends citizens pay attention to the time to avoid missing flight, as follows:
Citizens are far from the airport, so soon move from today, temporarily rent hotels, motels at locations near the airport;
- Observe the situation and developments around the area where we live. If there is a phenomenon of the street being blocked, blocking the aisles, it is necessary to calculate a reasonable travel time, promptly arrive at the airport for procedures;
- If citizens are asked when passing through this station, citizens explain to the police that the citizens are going to the RGN airport to return home.
The Embassy would like to inform and request that people pay close attention to timely procedures.

The Embassy of S.R. Vietnam in Yangon, Republic of the Union of Myanmar, would like to announce./.

Yangon, March 3, 2021.

By S.R. Vietnam Embassy in Yangon via Facebook

I wonder if other ASEAN countries would operate similar flights?