The airlines know where people connect to and as far as I am aware Bangkok was always top of the list of connecting pax to a destination not served direct. When I used to fly to HKG with Finnair, the Helsinki flights were always full of people connecting onwards to BKK. (For HKG used both CX and AY- but the AY was better as a night flight was preferred over the morning CX-and of course less expensive)
Disappointing to see that Air Transit has not re-instated a seasonal Vancouver. AV8 also used to fly direct to Cape Town with a leased Icelandair 767, unfortunately often needed a fuel stop on the return in Palma- so that probably weakened the viability-then of course AV8 demised.