Air Nz And Thai Airways Join Forces

[george]

Air NZ and Thai Airways join forces

BANGKOK: -- National carriers Air New Zealand and Thai Airways will begin reciprocal code-share arrangements from July 1.

"The code-share agreement enables Air New Zealand to market Bangkok as a gateway to various destinations in addition to our own existing Asian gateways of Singapore and Hong Kong," said Air New Zealand group general manager for marketing Norm Thompson.

"It also further strengthens cooperation between Air New Zealand and Thai as members of the Star Alliance."

Air New Zealand will code share on Thai Airways services between Bangkok and Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket and Bangkok and the European cities of Frankfurt, Rome, London, Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Thai Airways will code share on Air New Zealand domestic and trans-Tasman services.

These include flights between Auckland and Wellington; Christchurch, Melbourne and Perth; Wellington and Sydney and Melbourne; Christchurch and Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane.

"The code-share agreement between Thai and Air New Zealand opens up opportunities for the company to expand into Wellington and Christchurch, which is a new prospective market for Thai," said Vasing Kittikul, Thai Airways executive vice president for commercial.

--AAP 2005-06-28