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Thai Airways Plans Major Expansion In India
Anindita Chattopadhyay - New Delhi
The uncertainty in the aviation sector, which pushed many airlines to the brink
of bankruptcy, failed to affect Thai Airways. The airline not only notched up
a record net profit of over 10 million Baht in 2002-03, but also launched services
to eight new destinations. The expansion plan is now spilling over into the
India market with the carrier poised to start operations in south India.
"We have realised that we needed to expand our
services to the Southern markets. Effective October 26, four new flights will
be introduced in the Bangkok-Chennai-Dubai sector and vice versa. From March
next year, four Bangkok-Bangalore-Bangkok turn-around flights will commence.
Our next concentration is to have more flights to Mumbai - increasing it from
three to five," said Ravi Talwar, area sales manager - India. The airline
will offer an introductory special fare for the new sector.
Currently, Thai Airways has 13 flights with a total
capacity of 4,100 seats per week. The carrier's capacity, pointed out Talwar,
is likely to double in the next one year given the fact that the new bilateral
agreement signed in September is based on seat capacity.
The airline, which experienced a 96 per cent load factor
in September, expects the India market to grow by 8-10 per cent next year. "30
per cent of our load is returning traffic, meaning India generates 70 per cent
traffic which is more than 1.5 lakh passengers annually. Though the load reduced
by more than 50 per cent in April-May due to SARS, we recovered fast with 90
per cent in July, 93 per cent in August and 96 per cent in September,"
noted Talwar.
A major element of Thai's future policy involves upgrading
its fleet and facilities. "We are upgrading facilities and introducing
more comfortable seats and legroom by removing seats. This will be done by selectively
grounding aircraft, starting with B777-200s. The economy class will now have
personal videos, better selection of music channels, meals and reading materials.
The aircraft interior refurbishment will take around two years and cost around
5,000 million Baht."
As a marketing strategy, Thai prefers to work through
agents rather than reaching out to consumers directly. "Our flights never
go empty because our sales team, who constantly interact with agents, go all
out to confirm seats when any agency gives a waitlist. Further, agents feel
comfortable with our standard fare structure as we do not change fares frequently,"
added Talwar.
| Thai Airways International
PCL together with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) hosted the Thai
Night on the occasion of Thai government’s road show to India. Presiding
over the event was deputy Prime Minister, Korn Dabbaransi with the deputy
minister of transport, Pichet Sathitrachawal. The event was held consecutively
in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai |
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