Thailand’s budget-airline situation has been in dire straits since One-Two-Go stopped and Nok Air cut its Phuket and Krabi routes. Tourists have been left stranded and fuming in Bangkok, unable to catch flights to Phuket. We’ve had calls and emails from irate travelers who simply can’t get the flights they want.

If nothing else, this highlights the popularity of the Bangkok-Phuket route. Flights are booked solid for the next few days. After several news reports about Nok Air cutting its Phuket route, the airline apparently took note of the situation and has announced it is reintroducing the flight. Nok Air did something similar recently with its flights to Haad Yai.

Of course, this may all have been a massive marketing ploy by Nok Air in order to boost sales during the low season. If it is, then I hope the increased revenue is enough to cover the money lost in between cutting the route and reinstating it.

It’s good PR for Nok Air whichever way you look at it. Nok Air is now the airline the listens, the airline that cares. One-Two-Go is still the airline that can’t and Air Asia is kind of caught in the middle.

I flew Air Asia a couple of times last week. There were no more flights available on one of the days I chose to travel. Despite this, there are still rumors of cutbacks in the pipeline for Air Asia.

As consumers, I think we still have a good thing in terms of domestic flights. It’s anybody’s guess for how long.