Fuel costs hike THAI ticket prices 

By Kingsley Wijayasinha 
The Nation 

 

 

Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) will raise the fuel surcharge rate on 58 routes starting from September 14 due to the increasing fuel prices.

 

THAI president Sumeth Damrongchaitham said the decision was made after a study of internal and external factors including sharply rising fuel costs, which the airline has been absorbing while competitor airlines have begun to raise their prices.

 

He was confident that the surcharge increase would not affect ticket sales especially during the tourism season in the final quarter of the year when cabin factor usually exceeds 80 per cent.

 

“Oil prices have surged dramatically, and there are signs that it will continue [to rise],” he said, adding that jet fuel makes up 30 per cent of the airline’s annual costs. “THAI is in the middle of risk management, but the surcharge increase is seen as a positive move especially in terms of competition. If we raise the surcharge and that affects ticket prices, preventing us from selling tickets, it is Thai International that will feel the effects.”

 

Sumeth added that the surcharge hike would help THAI compete against other airlines with full service capability. “In the past we had to bear very high costs but our yield is higher than in previous years and higher than the average of other airlines.”

 

However, THAI customers may think otherwise, as the new ticket prices have been found to be higher by Bt768 on short economy seat flights (Yangon, Penang, Vientiane, Hanoi and Phnom Penh), while business passengers will have to cough up an additional Bt1,152 and first-class passengers Bt1,280.

 

The hike is even more on longer flights – Bt2,112 to Bt3,712 for (economy – first class) flights to and from New Delhi, Karachi, Dubai, Shanghai and Beijing.

 

Travellers to Japan will have to pay an additional Bt2,560 to Bt4,800 while the load on London passengers will be even higher at Bt9,280 to Bt12,800.

 

Meanwhile, THAI and Rolls-Royce have declared open the world’s first research and development project for Trent XWB jet engines. The event was presided over by Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

 

The two-year project is targeted at further testing the Trent XWB-97 engine that was first used in the Airbus A350-1000 in February this year.

 

“This will enable Rolls-Royce to find the strengths and weaknesses of this engine throughout its life span,” said Surachai Piencharoensak, THAI executive vice president, Technical Department.

 

THAI’s Technical Department is the first to join hands with Rolls-Royce to participate in Trent XWB engine development with real flight simulation at THAI’s Technical Department. Engine testing is conducted regularly at the test cell in order to improve engine efficiency, to comprehend various limitations to engine usage, product development and inspection plans, and for quality technical maintenance. This marks the first-ever cooperation of its kind that Rolls-Royce has forged with any customer.

 

Dominic Horwood, Rolls-Royce chief customer officer for civil aerospace, said the collaboration would allow Rolls-Royce to carry out full-scale operations in Thailand ranging from production, maintenance, repair and overhaul, and research and development. He said the company invests US$100 million (Bt3.3 billion) in Thailand annually in order to support its production line.

 

In 2020, both companies will also co-develop technological capability for maintaining the Trent 700 jet engine to the overhaul level, giving THAI the status of authorised maintenance centre for these engines.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Corporate/30353893

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-07

1 hour ago, webfact said:

THAI president Sumeth Damrongchaitham said the decision was made after a study of internal and external factors

Throughout the years,  many government officials, the upper crust of society  and THAI management have often used Thai Airways as their own personal planes at bargain basement prices. Hopefully, this is one of the internal factors that was examined, again...

In all my years of knowing and flying Thai, i have never read that tickets price are going DOWN owing to tumbling of oil prices or going thru a glut in the market,

trust the airlines and airport authorities of Thailand to gouge taxes and ticket prices when ever they feel like regardless profit and losses...

My mother booked a direct flight from London to Bangkok yesterday, there were no surcharges and the price was much cheaper than Thai.

 

Why is this ?

 

They like to start ripping people off before they even step foot on the flight. With a little but of luck nobody will use this airline and it will go bankrupt.

 

Edited September 7, 20187 yr by ukrules

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

In all my years of knowing and flying Thai, i have never read that tickets price are going DOWN owing to tumbling of oil prices or going thru a glut in the market,

trust the airlines and airport authorities of Thailand to gouge taxes and ticket prices when ever they feel like regardless profit and losses...

I fly Thai a lot. To be fair they have had 1400 but normally 1600 baht ticket prices consistent on domestic BKK travel for quite awhile now. But maybe if they didn’t they couldn’t compete having full aircraft. Who knows. If they are really talking about hiking some stated outside flights only, then who cares, I normally fly other carriers as they are even too expensive before the new hike. The ones proposed are probably loser routes for them, or on the China side so many of them are coming here that flights might be hard to get so is a gouger. I suspect will be a price increase for all routes as they are just candy coating it to start. 

We fly Thai from Perth To Bangkok in a 787 as they are the only airline that does a direct flight in 6 hours or less. Also they are cheaper than some that have long stop overs e.g. Singapore and Asia.  I think we are lucky to have a good service here. Plane is nearly full every time.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

the load on London passengers will be even higher at Bt9,280 to Bt12,800.

 

Huh???   They're already overpriced relative to their competition based on long-haul international flights. And now they want to add this on as a higher fuel surcharge?

 

Good luck with that!

 

BTW, AFAICT, after all this time, still no action by the NACC or any other Thai entity regarding the past case of RR allegedly having bribed Thai government officials in order to buy RR engines.

 

And yet the two entities now find themselves in an engine maintenance depot agreement. And of course, no mention of the past bribery case and the inaction on it in The Nation's report.

 

https://anticorruptiondigest.com/anti-corruption-news/2018/01/08/thailand-nacc-facing-uphill-task-in-rolls-royce-bribery-case-probe/#axzz5QNCEJJKz

 

Quote

 

The case involves bribery allegations against some Thai Airways International, PTT, and PTT Exploration and Production Co Ltd officials.
 

The NACC had said last March that some 26 people including former ministers, chairmen, presidents and other senior officials would be questioned over the Thai Airways Rolls-Royce bribery case.
 

The UK-based Rolls-Royce had reportedly admitted to paying more than Bt1.2 billion in bribes to Thai officials in return for multi-billion-baht purchase orders for aircraft engines.

 

Edited September 7, 20187 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

36 minutes ago, ukrules said:

My mother booked a direct flight from London to Bangkok yesterday, there were no surcharges and the price was much cheaper than Thai.

 

Why is this ?

 

They like to start ripping people off before they even step foot on the flight. With a little but of luck nobody will use this airline and it will go bankrupt.

 

Bear in mind UK - Bangkok - UK tends to be cheaper than the other way round. But yes, when I was flying between the two frequently a couple of years ago, THAI were always way, way more expensive than BA, Mrats or China Southern.

The new Thai Airways president showing his skills at lowering debt.....!

Bottom line experts knowing nothing of an airlines machinations....12 months in the chair is my guess.

I'd love to fly Thai but can't afford to.  This hike puts it further out of my reach.

In all my years of flying, either within Asia, or Bangkok to the US, I'm yet to find it ever cheaper than the competitors. 

 

Plunging jet fuel prices a few years back didn't seem to make them any more competitive, and  even with the current price, hardly at a peak!

 

Thai Air spin at it's best

Yeah, a 12,000B increase for a long-haul flight is not going to sit well with most people, including myself. If a 35k economy round trip is not going to be 47k, they are going to lose a lot of business.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

“THAI is in the middle of risk management, but the surcharge increase is seen as a positive move especially in terms of competition. If we raise the surcharge and that affects ticket prices, preventing us from selling tickets, it is Thai International that will feel the effects.”

 

Sumeth added that the surcharge hike would help THAI compete against other airlines with full service capability. “In the past we had to bear very high costs but our yield is higher than in previous years and higher than the average of other airlines.”

 

A positive move especially in terms of competition???  Help THAI compete against other airlines???

 

Whatever this guy is smoking, I'd sure like to get some!   

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

My mother booked a direct flight from London to Bangkok yesterday, there were no surcharges and the price was much cheaper than Thai.

 

Why is this ?

 

They like to start ripping people off before they even step foot on the flight. With a little but of luck nobody will use this airline and it will go bankrupt.

 

 

Which brings the question, is Thai fully aware of it's complete business environment (business factors etc., within their own industry, buyer behavior, industry trends etc., etc.).

 

Also, I wonder if Thai does fuel price hedging like many other airlines.

 

Also, I wonder how many people are sitting in senior and middle positions through pure nepotism, in other words not the right people for each specific job?  

 

 

54 minutes ago, mikebell said:

I'd love to fly Thai but can't afford to.  This hike puts it further out of my reach.

Fly Emirates!

23 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

A positive move especially in terms of competition???  Help THAI compete against other airlines???

 

Whatever this guy is smoking, I'd sure like to get some!   

 

Plus it would be interesting to hear some explanation of 'higher yields' (I guess this means bums in seats) when their ticket prices are on most routes above, well above other airlines. 

 

In reality, not many people (globally) have the financial resources to fly their 'favorite' airline with no consideration about ticket prices. 

 

 

 

8 hour flight from Brisbane in Aus so that would put it at just over $250 extra.

Last trip was around $900 mark so getting up a bit @ $1150.

 

Could never work out why the cost of flying from Sydney is over $100 cheaper, even asked them at the Brisbane office but they had no idea why.

27 minutes ago, 1337markus said:

Fly Emirates!

Yeah and add a 2 hour stop as well as poor food and service compared to Thai

3 hours ago, jaiyen said:

We fly Thai from Perth To Bangkok in a 787 as they are the only airline that does a direct flight in 6 hours or less. Also they are cheaper than some that have long stop overs e.g. Singapore and Asia.  I think we are lucky to have a good service here. Plane is nearly full every time.

how much is it if you buy the ticket in Thailand?

4 hours ago, jaiyen said:

We fly Thai from Perth To Bangkok in a 787 as they are the only airline that does a direct flight in 6 hours or less. Also they are cheaper than some that have long stop overs e.g. Singapore and Asia.  I think we are lucky to have a good service here. Plane is nearly full every time.

I'm in the air this month, I believe the rtn journey in Oct  will be a A330, most of the 787's have been withdrawn for maintenance reasons.

54 minutes ago, chainarong said:

most of the 787's have been withdrawn for maintenance reasons.

Are you talking about THAI?  What do you mean about "withdrawn for maintenance reasons"???

 

There are major durability problems with the crap engines made by Roles-Royce of England, requiring additional inspections.

Operators who opted for the GE powerplants are not affected

The headline should read “ Bad Management hike Thai ticket prices”!

Thai has and always had already some of the highest prices in the industry - without offering anything other airlines don’t and without showing the desired financial results - I wonder why that is?

I wonder if they ever check out any flight booking / search apps and notice the results?

There are usually a hundred or more options with better prices on similar even better airlines before Thai Airways even shows up.

Wonder if the Thai management still thinks people are actually using their website to search for flights ? Welcome to the 21st century!

They are just lucky that they offer direct flights on many routes having the geographical advantage and people are willing to pay extra for that.
There is nothing better in the air today than an Emirates A380 in economy (not even SQ’s A380 from LA) - just a pity they don’t offer more daytime flights as with the 6 hour nighttime flights to Dubai changing planes there one does not get much sleep.

Two 6 hour daytime flights to Europe are quite pleasant with the fantastic inflight entertainment they offer.
Switched over many times from a B 777 to an A380 in Dubai - like 2 different worlds in both economy and business.

Thai flies refurbished 30 year? old Boing 747’s to some of their major European routes (MUC) for a much higher price.

Although to be fair apart from the A380 on Emirates- the up to 34” leg-space in economy on the old 747’s of Thai is great and hard to beat - only not if they try to charge up to 40 % more than the competition on the same route.

I am a ROP member and fly Thai often - but more and more often now I have to choose other airlines as prices are so high on many routes that it is not worth it trying to be loyal to one airline if one feels that one is ripped off so the “selected few” in Thailand can have their freebies we are paying for!
Management seems to change every 12 - 24 month or so because they just don’t seem to be able to find professional management for once!





Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect