With effect from October 1, 2012, Thai AirAsia has cancelled its service from Phuket to Ubon Ratchathani.

The budget airline previously operated 3 round-trip flights per week connecting the holiday destination of Phuket with the northeastern city of Ubon Ratchathani.

Thai AirAsia has announced it will offer direct flights from Bangkok, Thailand to Mandalay, Myanmar starting October 4, 2012.  This will be the low-cost airline’s second destination in Myanmar (Burma), as they already fly to Yangon.

Tickets are already available and one-way promotional fares start from $49 USD  including taxes and surcharges.

Thai AirAsia has signed an agreement with the Airports of Thailand (AOT) that will have the airline shifting its operations in Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to older Don Mueang Airport. The first Thai AirAsia flight out of Don Muaeang Airport is currently scheduled for October 1, 2012.

The AOT has been offering Thailand’s low-cost airlines incentives to move to Don Mueang Airport in an effort to reduce congestion at Suvarnabhumi International Airport which is operating over capacity. Subarnabhumi was designed to handle up to 45 million passengers per year, and in 2011 is estimated to have served 47.9 million.

The AOT is currently in negotiatons with other airlines to shift their operations, and it is likely that other domestic airlines will relocate as well.

Thai AirAsia will be reducing the frequency of Bangkok – Colombo flights due to low demand. Effective from June 14, 2012, the low-cost airline will reduce frequency from a daily flight to three flights per week.

The new schedule  for flights from Bangkok, Thailand, to Colombo, Sri Lanka, will be Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Thai AirAsia, the Thai subsidiary of AirAsia, is pulling out of the highly contested Bangkok-New Delhi route. The withdrawal will begin with a reduction to four flights a week from February 14 and full suspension from March 24, 2012.

TAA became the first low-cost carrier to operate the Thailand-India sector in December 2010, with flights from the Thai capital to New Delhi and Kolkata.

TAA’s announcement of axing the Bangkok-New Delhi service came a week after its affiliated long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X decided to end flights from Kuala Lumpur to Gatwick airport in London and Orly in Paris.

Azran Osman-Rani, AirAsia X’s chief executive, said visa restrictions for travel between India and Malaysia and an increase in airport and handling charges in India forced the withdrawal.

AirAsia X plans to focus on its core markets in Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, opening new services and stepping up frequency.

While Mr Tassapon insisted India is a priority destination for TAA, he said any Indian route must allow for low fares.

He stressed that TAA’s daily Bangkok-Kolkata service remains intact.

Dropping the Bangkok-New Delhi route is also meant to improve efficiency and enable a focus on new international and domestic routes this year as TAA takes delivery of more A320 jets.

The first quarter will see three new routes from Bangkok to Trang province, which began on Jan 15; to Nakhon Phanom province, set to begin Feb 15; and to Colombo from March 1.

TAA will offer passengers who hold bookings on Bangkok-New Delhi an alternative travel option at no additional cost or a full refund.

The airline has been looking to serve more Indian cities such as Bangalore and Chennai from Bangkok. It was unclear yesterday whether that plan will be affected by circumstances leading to the end of Bangkok-New Delhi service.

Thai Air Asia has announced it will begin a daily direct service from Bangkok, Thailand to Colombo, Sri Lanka starting March 1, 2012. It will be the first budget airline to serve this route.

Flight FD 3880 will depart Bangkok at 06:25 and arrive in Colombo at 08:35 local time. Flight FD 3881 will depart Colombo at 09:35 and arrive in Bangkok at 14:15 local time. AirAsia will operate this route using an Airbus A320 aircraft.

Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleveld said the new service was part of the airline’s ongoing expansion plan, and this would offer Thai travellers an alternative destination, while also drawing visitors from South Asia to Southeast Asia.

One-way fares for this new route start from just THB 1,490 (USD $47) for one-way travel with carry-on luggage.