The airline is also starting new routes from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Fukuoka in Japan.

ML Nandhika Varavarn, vice president of corporate communications, said the companyh's 162-seat Airbus A320 would operate the flights twice a week.

The airline hopes to attract Asian tourists to the reopened route, particularly Japanese, Korean and Thai travellers.

"We see that our main markets, both Japan and Korea, are recovering," said Nandhika.

She added that the carrier would re-introduce the route with special promotions at a round ticket price of between Bt 16,000 and 17,000.

The flights to Fukuoka in southern Japan start on December 9. This will be the airline's second destination in Japan following Hiroshima, which begun operations earlier this year. It will fly the Fukuoka route thrice a week.

The Ho Chi Minh City flights, which start March 2007, will also run three times a week.

To make room for the new routes, the airline has closed down its Bangkok-Zhengzhou route.

Bangkok Airways currently operates 120 domestic and international flights per day.

On Monday the company announced that it would move some of its flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport on September 21, a week a head of the official opening date on September 28.

The airline plans to start its operations with nine fights a day from five cities.

It will transfer all Bangkok flights from Don Muang Airport to Suvarnabhumi Airport before September 28.

Nandhika said the company wanted to test the readiness the technical and human services operations, in particular flight operations, ground services and security measures to ensure everything is running smoothly.

"The Airline will spend Bt300 million on the move. This budget includes building a 400-room apartment building for staff who need to move to the new airport plus an additional monthly pay of Bt3,000 to each of those moving," she said.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation