Thai In Talks With 7 Airlines

[george]

THAI in talks with 7 airlines

Thai Airways International is in talks with three

foreign and four domestic airlines about a joint

venture in a low-cost airline, sources revealed yesterday.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Blue, currently a domestic airline in Australia, is one of three potential foreign partners Thai Airways is negotiating with, a source at the national carrier said.

Among the possible local partners is Orient Thai Airlines, which yesterday had the first flight of its low-cost subsidiary One-Two-Go with passengers paying Bt999 each to fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.

“We are talking with Virgin and also with another two foreign airlines. We should conclude the deal within 30 days from now,” the source said, declining to name the other two foreign airlines.

Thai Airways is negotiating with four privately-owned domestic airlines to join in the national carrier’s budget airline plan. The four are Air Andaman, Phuket Air, PBair and Orient Thai Airlines, he said.

Udom Tantiprasongchai, CEO of Orient Thai Airlines and managing director of One-Two-Go, said there was strong demand for up to 3,000 seats per day over the long weekend this month.

“We are developing a call centre, which will be available soon”, he said.

Thai Airways said last month it planned to launch a low-cost airline through a joint venture in April next year to fend off competition from new budget carriers. It plans to take a stake of up to 49 per cent in the airline.

Competition in the low-cost airline business in Thailand is set to intensify after Shin Corp, the country’s largest telecom group founded by the prime minister, announced a budget airline co-run with Malaysia’s AirAsia.

Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways, said his airline would begin a Bangkok-Phuket service next year.

But, otherwise, it plans to “wait and see” the emerging low-cost airlines here before adjusting its business strategy.

The low-cost airline business began 25 years ago, but few such airlines survive, Prasert said. The terror attacks on September 11, two years ago, had caused Bangkok Airways to reduce its operating costs, he said.

However, he is optimistic that low-cost airlines will drive domestic tourism.

Passengers can go to Don Muang domestic airport to buy One-Two-Go tickets or call (02) 267 2999 for reservations.

--The Nation/Reuters 2003-12-04

[Korat cowboy]

Do they have a website ?

Im very interested .

Thanks,