Airlines Mull Move Of Thai Base

[Mid]

Airlines mull move of Thai base

Fri, July 20, 2007 : Last updated 0:10 am

The tight capacity at Suvarnabhumi Airport and its high user charges have forced several international airlines to consider China, India or Vietnam as their future operating base instead of Bangkok, the Board of Airline Representatives (BAR) said yesterday.Published on July 20, 2007

Some carriers have pulled flights. Swiss International Airline has cut its flights between Bangkok and Switzerland from seven per week to six. Lufthansa of Germany has reduced service between Thailand and Germany and increased flights to Shanghai in China instead, said BAR president Brian Sinclair Thomson.

Many airlines are not happy with things at Suvarnabhumi.

nationmultimedia.com

[sjaak327]

There you go, it surprises me that it took them so long to come to that conclusion.

[backflip]

"Swiss International Airline has cut its flights between Bangkok and Switzerland from seven per week to six."

So what? Swiss Air isn't getting enough business to fill 7 flights/week, but that doesn't indicate that S'boom isn't working. If it wasn't working, Swiss would have pulled all flights, and moved them elsewhere.

[Florin]

Another piece of journalistic drivel spouted out by The Nation...it is an extremely common thing for many airlines to adjust their number of flights based on occupancy rate, season, etc. Bangkok is one of the most well connected cities in the world, but the truth of the matter is that China and India are growing to such an extent that it's more economically feasible to take out one of the many flights to a destination such as BKK and reroute it to a less-served, higher-growth destination like Mumbai, Shanghai, etc. What this has to do with Suvarnabhumi is beyond me. They'll probably have a follow-up article that a Swiss pilot couldn't find a toilet to piss in, so bang...Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss all withdraw

[chubbybob]

Was U-tapao ever considered? With it's long runways built for B52 bombers during the Vietnam war, it is no doubt cheaper to use than BKK and possibly very suitable for the Pattaya bound crowd.

[think_too_mut]

Was U-tapao ever considered? With it's long runways built for B52 bombers during the Vietnam war, it is no doubt cheaper to use than BKK and possibly very suitable for the Pattaya bound crowd.

Utapao has miniscule facilities, it's all the size of a tool shed on an average farm. There were filghts to it from Singapore by low cost airline (can't remember which one) but were discontinued after 6 months due to low interest.

And, of course, it's not only that Utapao is being considered as a gateway to Pattaya....in fact it is, brings 450,000 guests a year....any time 10-15 jumbos there....but "wrong crowd"?

Edited July 21, 2007 by think_too_mut

[think_too_mut]

Another piece of journalistic drivel spouted out by The Nation...it is an extremely common thing for many airlines to adjust their number of flights based on occupancy rate, season, etc.

Drivel it is. Nothing to do with Suvarnabhumi. Landing rights are still lower than in SIN or HKG.

Rerouting some planes to another places in the region is common practice and not a sign they are moving their operations away from BKK.

One airline that did that is Qantas.

There is only is only 1 flight a day into BKK (QF01). They moved operations to Singapore. But - it was 5 years before Suvarnabhumi was open.

[viacc65]

Yes Swiss International Airline has cut its flights between Bangkok and Switzerland from seven per week to six since over 1 year, but remember that the airline is always codeshare with TG that flights from Zürich to BKK 7 days a week.

[Payboy]

...a Swiss pilot couldn't find a toilet to piss in, so bang...Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss all withdraw

come on - everyone knows that swiss pilots dont piss in toilets - they let go in those portable commodes attached to their army knives

Edited July 23, 2007 by Payboy