FLEET - Thai Lion Air trims fleet plan but will take B737-900ERs

Thai Lion Air (SL, Bangkok Don Mueang) has scaled back its fleet expansion plans amid weaker-than-expected demand, chief executive Aswin Yangkirativorn told the Bangkok Post. The carrier had initially targeted a fleet of 40 aircraft this year but has shelved that projection. Nonetheless, it will add two more B737-900ERs in the fourth quarter of 2025.

In addition to the two pending deliveries in 2025, the airline expects to take a further four to five aircraft in 2026. According to ch-aviation fleets data, Thai Lion Air has so far inducted four aircraft this year - two B737-800s and two B737-900ERs - all on dry leases.

The carrier currently operates twenty-one B737-800s and nine B737-900ERs, with average fleet ages of 10.7 and 12.7 years, respectively. Before the height of the pandemic, Thai Lion Air operated as many as 40 units.

While management had aimed to return to that pre-pandemic fleet size in 2025, growth is now moderated by softer inbound demand, particularly from China. Still, the airline is preparing for stronger traffic in the fourth quarter peak season.

"We're still optimistic that Thai tourism will eventually improve. We adjusted our fleet expansion based on overall tourism growth," Aswin said.

On the network side, Thai Lion Air plans to launch several new routes out of its Bangkok Don Mueang hub this winter, including flights to Sapporo Chitose via Kaohsiung, Osaka Kansai via Taipei Taoyuan, Chongqing, and Tianjin.

Aswin added that the airline has no immediate plans to branch into widebody operations, though it has not entirely ruled out the option. For now, Thai Lion Air will remain an all-Boeing narrowbody operator.

CH Aviation

 

Thai Lion Air resurrects A330neo operational plans

Thai Lion Air (SL, Bangkok Don Mueang) has again taken delivery of an A330-900, indicating its plan to resume the type's operations after an 18-month-long pause without any widebody aircraft in its fleet.

HS-LAQ (msn 1956) was ferried from Toulouse Blagnac to Bangkok Don Mueang on September 20, 2021, Fliightradar24 ADS-B data shows. It has yet to be deployed into revenue service. ch-aviation sources in Thailand indicate the aircraft may initially be used for cargo-only operations as Thailand remains largely closed to international travellers. Thai Lion Air did not respond to a request for comment.

The Lion Air Group subsidiary ventured into the widebody market in 2017, when it took deliveries of its first three A330-300s, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. In 2019, it added two A330-900s. The -300s were retired and returned to parent airline Lion Air in late 2019 and early 2020, while the two -900s were transferred to Indonesia in May 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic grounded most of the international travel in the region.

Following serious fleet cutbacks during the crisis, Thai Lion Air currently operates six B737-800s, three B737-900(ER)s, and one B737-9, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module indicates.

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Thai Lion Air opens Utapao – Changsha public bookings from Nov 2017

Thai Lion Air has announced planned service changes for Utapao – Changsha route, currently served as scheduled charter. From 26NOV17, this 4 weekly service will be operating on regular basis, with flights available for booking on the airline’s website.

Boeing 737-900ER currently operates this route, but will switch to -800 from 01DEC17.

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By Jim Liu

THAI LION AIR - A 330-300 - F-WWCU msn 1820

Alain Charpentier - TLS

Thai Lion Air is taking the fight to Thai AirAsia and Nok Air by launching a new domestic route in Thailand.

Brisnance - Boeing _USA

On 17 March the LCC began 12 times weekly flights between Bangkok Don Mueang (DMK) and Khon Kaen (KKC) using its 737-800s. The two incumbent carriers operate a total of 47 weekly flights between the two airports, which are only 365 kilometres apart. This becomes Thai Lion Air’s 11th domestic route from Bangkok Don Mueang from where it also serves seven international routes. The 11 domestic routes are served by a total of 396 weekly departures. With this new service, Thai Lion Air has increased its share of the Thai domestic market to 19% ranking it third behind Thai AirAsia (27%) and Nok Air (20%).

THAI LION - B737-900ER - HS-LTZ

BRISNANCE - Boeing - USA

Thai Lion Air on 28 October added a new daily service between Bangkok Don Mueang and Ho Chi Minh City

This is the airline’s first route to Vietnam which is already served by Thai AirAsia with three daily flights and by Nok Air with double-daily flights. Flights on the 740-kilometre sector depart Thailand at 05:10 arriving in Ho Chi Minh City at 07:00. Flights depart Vietnam at 07:55 returning to Bangkok at 09:50. This winter Thai Lion Air is operating 14 routes from Bangkok’s second airport, nine of which are to other destinations in Thailand. Ho Chi Minh City joins Guangzhou (China), Jakarta (Indonesia), Singapore and Yangon (Myanmar) on the airline’s international network.

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Thai Lion Air has once more ventured into the international market with the launch on 15 August of daily flights between Bangkok Don Mueang (DMK) and Singapore (SIN).

The 1,442-kilometre route will be operated by the airline’s 737-900s and faces direct competition from Thai AirAsia (six daily flights) and Scoot (10 weekly flights). Indirect competition comes from Jetstar Asia, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Tigerair Singapore, who all operate multiple daily flights between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Singapore. According to OAG Schedules Analyser there are now 211 weekly departures between the two major Asian cities. Thai Lion Air previously operated a route to Jakarta but this was dropped earlier this year, while a Kuala Lumpur service was operated for a few months between December 2013 and April 2014 before being handed over to sister airline Malindo Air.

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Thai Lion Air to take delivery of two B737-800s in February 2014

Thai Lion Air will in February take delivery of two B737-800s and not two B737-900(ER)s as previously announced. According to Thai Aviation, the Lion Airlines subsidiary is still looking to acquire B737-900(ER)s with plans to operate eight of the type alongside the two B737-800s come year-end 2014. Thai Lion Air launched operations earlier this month with flights between Bangkok Don Mueang and Chiang Mai.

Thai Lion Air to Start Operation from December 2013

Thai Lion Air has opened reservation on its website, which sees the airline begins operation from 04DEC13, with 2 daily flights each from Bangkok Don Mueang to Chiang Mai and Jakarta, and 1 daily to Kuala Lumpur. In addition, the airline’s IATA code is “SL”.

Planned operational schedule, according to the airline’s booking system, as follow. Note these operational schedules are different from initial schedule listing appeared in Sabre timetable listing, which Airline Route reported on 25OCT13.

Thai Lion Air to operate B787-8s to Japan and South Korea from 2016

Thai Lion Air chief executive officer Darsito Hendroseputro has told the Bangkok Post newspaper during the official press conference introducing the carrier to Thai media, that Thai Lion would plan to add Mumbai Int'l, Delhi Int'l, Guangzhou, Hat Yai, Hong Kong Che Lap Kok, Phuket, Shenzhen and Singapore Changi to its network in 2014. It plans to launch operations later this year with two B737-900(ER)s operating from Don Mueang to Chiang Mai, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta and Kuala Lumpur Int'l. According to Hendroseputro, parent Lion Airlines also plans to allocate some of its 15 B787-8s on order to its Thai subsidiary allowing it to launch services to Japan and South Korea from 2016 onwards.
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