KLM starts Phuket flight in October

AMSTERDAM, 2 June 2021: KLM expands its intercontinental network this winter, adding six new destinations with the new service to Phuket with a stop in Kuala Lumpur catching the travel industry’s attention in Thailand.

KLM intends to fly to Phuket Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from Amsterdam with a stop in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The flights will start this October.

The Phuket flights were mentioned in a KLM statement confirming international route changes in its provisional winter schedule (31 October 2021 to 26 March 2022) announced last week.

The airline says the strategy will expand its network where recovery will be quickest, offering customers the broadest possible choice of destinations. They are Mombasa, Orlando, Cancun, Bridgetown, Port of Spain and Phuket in southern Thailand.

The Kenyan beach destination of Mombasa will be served twice weekly, using a Boeing 787-9. The same aircraft operate flights to Orlando in Florida (four weekly) and to the Mexican beach resort of Cancun (three weekly). The Airbus A330 will fly Bridgetown in Barbados (three weekly) and Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago (three weekly). Phuket stands out as the single leisure destination in Asia scheduled for the October launch. It will be served by four weekly flights, using a Boeing 777-300.

“With the general situation and outlook now improving, network expansion is back on the agenda,” the airline said in its winter timetable announcement. We have chosen destinations where “recovery will be quickest. The six new destinations fit the bill.”

With this expansion, the network of destinations will almost reach the pre-Covid-19 level, but with much less capacity and fewer frequencies and aircraft.

“For KLM, this represents the next, significant step towards rebuilding its network… We will serve as many as 99 destinations in Europe during summer and, with this latest expansion, will significantly strengthen KLM’s intercontinental network for the winter,” said KLM CEO Pieter Elbers.

Phuket will begin the long path to recovery on 1 July when the Thai government launches its “Sandbox Project”, which will open the tourist island to vaccinated travellers without the need for quarantine. By October, the programme should be fully operational, with most of Phuket’s 500,000 residents vaccinated. Initially, only foreign nationals from listed low to medium risk countries will be allowed to fly direct to Phuket, but by October, the gates should open fully with visa, and other requirements eased.

Flight schedules

Mombasa will be combined with Nairobi on the return journey to Amsterdam. This also applies to Orlando and Miami. Phuket will be served both to and from Amsterdam via Kuala Lumpur. Bridgetown and Port of Spain will be combined, and Cancun will be a non-stop connection.

(Source: News KLM)