BANGKOK, 3 July 2023: Mae Hong Son’s tourism community sweetens the deal for Bangkok Airways to start flights on the Bangkok – Lampang – Mae Hong Son route this August.
Discussions between Mae Hong Son’s tourism community, the town’s chamber of commerce and the airport operator, the Department of Aviation, have cleared the way for the airline to gain “special airport fees for two years to support the new route”.
Launching a flight that transits in Lampang is a gamble. Over the last few decades, the far northwest resort town nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains relied either on daily direct flights from Bangkok (Nok Air quit the route last April) or the short daily hop from Chiang Mai on a Bangkok Airways’ ATR72 stationed in Chiang Mai. It ended flights during the initial Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. The flight took 35 minutes, and the return fare was pegged at USD133.
Bangkok Airways returns to Mae Hong Son on 2 August using the same 70-seat ATR72 aircraft but with a stop in Lampang, a town 108 km south of Chiang Mai.
In a digital message to travel agents late last month, the airline confirmed a decision to fly to Mae Hong Son on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Departing Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, the flight time will be around one hour and 35 minutes to Lampang with a 30-minute ground stop and then a 50-minute flight to Mae Hong Son. Flight PG 205/206 will use a 70-seat ATR-72 to serve both towns. The airline also operates twice-daily turnaround flights on the Bangkok -Lampang route (depart Bangkok at 0820 and 1625).
Mae Hong Son’s Chamber of Commerce reported last week that the one-way fare between Mae Hong Son and Lampang would start at around THB1,500 and THB2,800 one-way Mae Hong Son to Bangkok.
Chiang Mai residents planning to visit Mae Hong Son will miss the convenient daily flight (CNX-HGN) that Bangkok Airways scheduled pre Covid-19. Still, there are plans to establish a bus service from Chiang Mai to Lampang’s airport operated by the Green Bus Service. Details have yet to be finalised.
Checking the latest fares posted on the Bangkok Airways website, the airline quotes a roundtrip fare of THB4,860 on the Bangkok – Lampang sector.
The roundtrip fare on the Bangkok – Mae Hong Son route is THB 5,810. The roundtrip fare between Lampang and Mae Hong Son starts at THB3,030.
Bangkok Airways’ website and Facebook account post very little information on the Bangkok-Lampang-Mae Hong Son route besides communications to Bangkok and Chiang Mai’s local travel agents’ communities. See below the email announcement:
