BANGKOK - Major airport expansion projects are taking off across Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and a new airline is set to launch in 2024 - all banking on an expected boom in air travel in South-east Asia, fuelled by Chinese and Indian tourists.
But there are doubts about whether it will materialise in an uncertain economic environment and as worries about the impact of travel on climate change deepen.
Thailand's Really Cool Airlines is expected to start flying between Bangkok and Japan around mid-2024, but chief executive Patee Sarasin - a veteran of the region's cut-throat budget sector says it has been a battle to launch a new carrier just after a pandemic.
"It's a lot of money. It has been quite gruelling to raise the funds," he told AFP.
Mr Patee ran budget carrier Nok Air for more than a decade, but while he is coy about the finer details of the new venture, he claims it may yet "change the aviation paradigm".
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