AsBAA Chapter Focus – Thailand

Aljoscha Subasinghe, Business Development Manager of Asia Flight Services and representative of the AsBAA Thailand Chapter, discusses some of the conditions and challenges that the market faces in the region.

1. Please briefly introduce the Chapter
The Thailand / Mekong chapter is the latest addition to the regional chapters. While Thailand had a local chapter several years ago, it has been inactive for a while. The surrounding countries Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam are collectively known as the Mekong region.

2. What are some unique market conditions in this chapter?
While there are comparatively few local business aviation operators and related services companies, the region is nevertheless of interest to the BA industry as a whole due to the growing number of inbound traffic. Therefore, a local chapter helps to bring the region into the conversation and makes the countries more accessible to operators from other regions.

3. What are some of the related challenges?
There is little harmonization in regulations across these different countries and governments often communicate new rules late or inefficiently. As a result, operators are often hesitant to fly into these markets when the regulatory situation is unclear. The low amount of business aviation flights in these countries means that the industry is not well recognized by the regulators and often not considered when regulations are implemented.

4. As an AsBAA member, what support is there available in this region?
Having regular chapter meetings which include intra-regional stakeholders as well as members from other regions like Hong Kong, Mainland China and Singapore can help to bring Thailand and the Mekong region closer to the more developed markets in Asia-Pacific.
AsBAA as part of its response to the current pandemic has reached out to regulators in several countries, including Thailand, offering its assistance and requesting for the business aviation industry to be considered in the changing regulatory environment.

Please get in touch to find out more or join the next Chapter Meeting.