Nok Air: Can It Fly Higher?

Abstract

     Nok Air, established in February 2004, was a low-cost carrier in Thailand with a long-term goal of being a leader of low-cost airlines in the southeast Asia.  Nok Air’s business model for competing with other low-cost airlines in Thailand had both similarities to, and differences from, the “ideal type” of low-cost strategy pioneered by Southwest Airlines.  Through brilliant strategies of being innovatively responsive to customers’ needs, and doing so in a manner that provided convenience and added value, the Nok Air brand had become a well-recognized one in the country.   The case discusses the adaptation of low-cost carriers’ operations by Nok Air and its competition in the domestic market.  Students were put into the shoes of Patee, the CEO of Nok Air who needed to make an informed decision about how to respond strategically to new competitive realities, including the question of how Nok Air could maintain its growth and the related question of whether the carrier would need to expand services beyond Thailand in order to assure its continued viability.