Thai Airways pushes back resumption of international services to August

ByThe Thaiger

 

FILE PHOTO: Executive Traveller

 

Thai Airways, with more problems than most airlines at the moment, has pushed back its resumption of international services from the start of July to August. Maybe the flight schedulers know something the rest of us don’t….?

 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has pushed back the resumption of international flights twice already. The current ban will finish on June 30. But there has been no official update on what will happen after June. Now Thai Airways is adjusting its planned flight resumption for flights to Europe out of Bangkok, changing the launch dates for its London and Paris services. Published in Airlineroute, the planned London and Paris services of Thai Airways are now due to resume in August rather than previously reported in July.

 

The national airlines’ Bangkok – London Heathrow service will be reintroduced on August 1 with a daily Boeing 777-300 in service. According to the earlier scheduling, the airline was planning a service starting 16 July, three times a week. On the Bangkok-Paris route, the airline has now postponed the launch from 17 July to 1 August offering three weekly flights.

 

The scheduling, or the re-arrangements of the scheduling, are happening while the national carrier is going through major restructuring in the country’s Bankruptcy Court. The airline, burdened by growing debt, was already struggling before the financial crisis brought about by Covid-19 lockdowns and border closures. Its fleet has been grounded with only a few aircraft used for special repatriation flights.

 

Meanwhile there are ongoing discussions about creating “travel bubbles” or “green lanes” between countries with low infection rates that governments consider as ‘low risk’. This would allow essential travel to resume without quarantine requirements. Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and China have already been talking about possible limited resumptions of flights between the ‘low risk’ nations.

 

Globally, over 65 million jobs are supported in the aviation industry with 1 in 10 jobs around the world provided by the tourism sector. Most of those jobs are now at critical risk, in the short to medium term, and only a complete reopening will allow thousands of SMEs that rely entirely on tourism a chance to survive.

 

Thailand has a high reliance on tourism and the government will be weighing up the risks between an extended pause on its tourism economy and opening up too early to ‘at risk’ countries that are still struggling with Covid-19 cases. As Thailand continues to repatriate its citizens, the only new cases of Covid-19 in the past 2 weeks have been from citizens returning from overseas – mostly from Middle East countries as well as the US.

 

Source: https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thai-airways-pushes-back-resumption-of-international-services-to-august

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2020-06-09

 

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I would not fly Thai for free.

Not worth the hassle of a long delayed or canceled flight.

Anyone reckon that other international airlines will have their schedules forced to roll back to August as well?  Can't have the farang owned companies gaining even more of an edge over THAI airways.  I really hope that's not the case.  Was hoping to fly in mid-July.

@johnnynmonic Many major carriers never stopped service to and from BKK: Qatar, KLM, Lufthansa, EVA to name a few. Check FlightRadar24's airport specific arrival and departure info for BKK for confirmation.

Just now, mjnaus said:

@johnnynmonic Many major carriers never stopped service to and from BKK: Qatar, KLM, Lufthansa, EVA to name a few. Check FlightRadar24's airport specific arrival and departure info for BKK for confirmation.

Oh I know.  But I was looking to fly out of Phuket.  

6 minutes ago, mjnaus said:

@johnnynmonic Many major carriers never stopped service to and from BKK: Qatar, KLM, Lufthansa, EVA to name a few. Check FlightRadar24's airport specific arrival and departure info for BKK for confirmation.

They only fly paying passengers from BKK, not to.

this is just being played out by TG.  They have no intention of being in the air anytime soon.

they have no cash to run the business.  imo

 

 

Edited June 9, 20206 yr by steven100

can they not just stop the circus, sell all the planes

 

it's not that they ever made money or ever will make profits

 

but the elite needs to fly for free, right ?

I don't think that the bankruptcy committee has been properly endorsed yet. Thai Air is at risk of having it's aircraft seized by overseas creditors if they land in overseas countries that haven't ratified the bankruptcy deal.

2 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

sell all the planes

Do you know of any airline looking for planes to buy? No, I thought not.

I would be more worried about if their planes are actually still save to fly after such a long time on the ground. Did they maintain them well during that time??

The dubai thai consulate has just posted on facebook those with work permits can now apply to return, with a host of stipulations inluding 14 days quarantine

 

https://www.facebook.com/RTCGDXB/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARD_6QZnITcVqusPKxMwo5JaoWax6VssWEtGYs8B_Ms5jvBNyGzPvqTvHVV_8XLXyNjVjKlI30sIUYdH&hc_ref=ARQ_qcrUp60fAJ7WHT7guxF1LiO41ZsDlRYcrIxChIlI1rHuNex1H51oXx6RwXIPHx8&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARBPgP8OkmehMnfjrhRtSCNxMpy6IZ9ArCK1gZcSGpFnpPRn8rPu4jzK9KAJjSbq7qnojvS6LMjpif08T7nsD4HG0WoO2z8KP4-o7s3f1mJMtFr__fP2EHhTzoCIeh89l3LzMku4JJhZwtsS18AHnG4PDd8DjBJwqub2dtd4aM-2qzZZ6dxM7lnfiZvdED1MCIwPuB5o_8AIbkKyAx8_RCN3HyEEalMdWwGFNRJ2Mr1p44t_FhKf9qvBTXapkkFrDBnQ1fCxxj1UMRkQ0eTWXlpZYwEsB-fw59osUSJbIYJuNYMCUM6JUPSOJzQ8G4QsmPwDpfXGvk7NWO8A7BaA137Cgw

How the hell do they want to become profitable within the mid future if they haven't made any profits when the market was booming ? Now smarter people are running better airlines - they should seize business and leave the market to people who understand the business.

8 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

I would not fly Thai for free.

Not worth the hassle of a long delayed or canceled flight.

I wouldn't give them the Cheese from......you know the rest !

9 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

I would not fly Thai for free.

Not worth the hassle of a long delayed or canceled flight.

I was forced to fly Thai from BKK to London in March because Emirates stopped flying (UAE closed). Same aircraft (A380), both Business Class so similar bed-style seats but Thai just felt cheap and nasty compared to Emirates....except that it was MUCH more expensive, even if you consider it was a non-stop. 

I used to hold a Thai club or frequent flyer card (I recall it being Star Alliance or similar) but given a choice, both Thai and BA would be way down my list of choices.

Edited June 9, 20206 yr by VBF

11 hours ago, johnnynmonic said:

Anyone reckon that other international airlines will have their schedules forced to roll back to August as well?  Can't have the farang owned companies gaining even more of an edge over THAI airways.  I really hope that's not the case.  Was hoping to fly in mid-July.

Mid July?? You’ve got no chance mate 

11 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Do you know of any airline looking for planes to buy? No, I thought not.

Do they own the plane or just lease?

Boggles the minds how an airline that was the pride of the nation, the mighty and glorious airline, folded like a cheap lawn chair after only an hiatus of couple of months, and that THAI was shown to be a hot air balloon and house of cards so much so they can't even refund monies of cancelled flights and till now not sure whether they will resume flight in August or not is, total chaos for a pandemic that lasted few months, imagine the catastrophe and the bedlam if a pandemic that will last longer than a few months, ... 

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Boggles the minds how an airline that was the pride of the nation, the mighty and glorious airline, folded like a cheap lawn chair after only an hiatus of couple of months, and that THAI was shown to be a hot air balloon and house of cards so much so they can't even refund monies of cancelled flights and till now not sure whether they will resume flight in August or not is, total chaos for a pandemic that lasted few months, imagine the catastrophe and the bedlam if a pandemic that will last longer than a few months, ... 

Many international airlines are in a similar situation and are only still in existence because their home government has injected cash. Even the mighty Cathay Pacific only just staved off bankruptcy because the government injected HKD 39 bill., ditto Emirates and many many others. The airline industry is a notoriously difficult business in which to make a profit. Talking of which, I'm still waiting for British Airways to answer the phone about my refund from a flight they cancelled, it's been a month now and they still keep hanging up.

15 hours ago, JusticeGB said:

I don't think that the bankruptcy committee has been properly endorsed yet. Thai Air is at risk of having it's aircraft seized by overseas creditors if they land in overseas countries that haven't ratified the bankruptcy deal.

Looks like a legal nightmare for Thai

That means they won't dare to fly to any countries that creditor banks/funds reside

 

5 minutes ago, Vigilante said:

Looks like a legal nightmare for Thai

That means they won't dare to fly to any countries that creditor banks/funds reside

 

But the planes will be leased rather than owned I imagine, seizing them wouldn't do any good surely?

19 minutes ago, Trillian said:

But the planes will be leased rather than owned I imagine, seizing them wouldn't do any good surely?

What make you think that Thai International can afford to lease anything ?

 

And if you were the lessee would you trust Thai to pay the rental !

Some posts using trolling videos or trolling images have been removed. 

3 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

What make you think that Thai International can afford to lease anything ?

 

And if you were the lessee would you trust Thai to pay the rental !

Planes are expensive, about 50% of them are leased. It would be cheaper from a cash flow perspective to lease the planes rather than buy them outright and the airline industry is a cash flow dependent business. Given the competition between the major plane manufacturers I'm sure that one or both tof them would be prepared to do the financing.

 

https://www.icf.com/insights/transportation/why-are-airlines-leasing-more-aircraft#:~:text=Today%2C over 13%2C300 commercial jet,of the fleet by value.

I expect Thai airways will encounter extreme difficulty in getting their operations back in order and flying as previously which would provide income.

Why ....

they have no cash to run daily operations like fuel, airport taxes & landing fees.

they cannot pay the lease payments for aircraft.

they cannot get fuel without cash.

they cannot buy food from onboard catering without cash.

they cannot pay salaries without cash.

any service provider is unlikely to give product or service without cash.

 

Now, the interesting piece, if the Thai government assists in giving financial support by way of a loan which was mentioned as possibly 50 billion baht .... this is all good and well however how long do you think that will last .... not very long, and any income generated during this time will be meager and totally insufficient, 

this is why I believe Khun Prayut Chan O Cha is cautious about any loan. I believe the government will sit tight on this one and let it all play out in the courts, essentially meaning TG will unlikely ever be Thai airways again. They may cut it down into another budget carrier later, but I have my doubts that even this will happen as their liabilities are so enormous. 

 

Flightradar 24 do show a few at Swampy being Bump Started on the Runway today

39 minutes ago, Trillian said:

But the planes will be leased rather than owned I imagine, seizing them wouldn't do any good surely?

yes it would ,  if the leaser is owed a billion baht, at least he would get his plane back as he knows he is unlikely to get his money. He owns them so he will want them back.

2 minutes ago, steven100 said:

yes it would ,  if the leaser is owed a billion baht, at least he would get his plane back as he knows he is unlikely to get his money. He owns them so he will want them back.

I agree, except the context was that of the planes being seized by third parties in foreign countries for non-payment of prior debt.

13 minutes ago, pineapple01 said:

Flightradar 24 do show a few at Swampy being Bump Started on the Runway today

on their way to U-Tapao to be parked up ....     ?

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 20206 yr by steven100

25 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I expect Thai airways will encounter extreme difficulty in getting their operations back in order and flying as previously which would provide income.

Why ....

they have no cash to run daily operations like fuel, airport taxes & landing fees.

they cannot pay the lease payments for aircraft.

they cannot get fuel without cash.

they cannot buy food from onboard catering without cash.

they cannot pay salaries without cash.

any service provider is unlikely to give product or service without cash.

Dont forget hotels for the crew