JAKARTA. Thai Lion Air, a subsidiary of the country's largest airline, Lion Air, launched a thrice weekly flight service on Friday connecting Medan, North Sumatra, with one of the main gateways in southern Thailand, Hat Yai.

"Rather than travel to Jakarta and then fly to Bangkok, people from Medan can fly to Hat Yai and then take a flight to Bangkok,” Thai Lion Air executive managing director Andi Burhan said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The Medan-Hat Yai route uses a new French-Italian turboprop short haul regional airliner Avions de Transport Regional ATR 72-600.

He said the new connection was a faster and more convenient way to get to Thailand's capital city.

Hat Yai is also Thai Lion Air’s second major hub so that passengers from Medan can make an easy connection in Hat Yai to other destinations in Thailand using the airline.

Meanwhile, the Hat Yai-Bangkok service uses a new narrow-body Boeing B737-900 Extended Range (ER).

In addition, he said the carrier planned to launch a three times weekly ATR 72-600 service on April 13 linking Hat Yai to Kuala Lumpur Subang in Malaysia.

“The decision to launch flights from Hat Yai to Medan and Subang Airport in Kuala Lumpur is part of our commitment to help develop passenger services between ASEAN countries,” he added.

Moreover, he said that Thai Lion Air was pleased with the results of its Bangkok Don Mueang-Chiang Mai and Bangkok Don Mueang-Hat Yai services.

“We launched the Bangkok-Hat Yai service last month. We have five return flights per day on the route and plan to increase the frequency to six times a day in late April,” he continued.

The airline currently operates a fleet of four B737-900ERs and one ATR 72-600. By the end of 2014, it plans to increase its B737-900ER fleet to eight. (nfo)

Editor: Asnil Amri