Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing are East Asia’s three largest airline markets. But just behind Beijing, in terms of airport seats scheduled, is the massive Bangkok market, split across two hyper-busy airports. Thailand, more generally, is East Asia’s fourth busiest airline market after China, Japan and Indonesia, all with much larger populations. More importantly, the giant Thai market, despite its preponderance of low-yield leisure traffic, is a critical component of many airline networks. It’s also home to what has become a vicious competitive battle among some of Asia’s most ambitious airlines, and a hotbed for some of the global airline industry’s…
