Loss-making 'One To Go' Insists It's Still Flying

[george]

Loss-making 'One to Go' insists it's still flying

BANGKOK: -- Orient Thai Airlines, the operator of 'One to Go' no-frills airline, said on Monday that fierce competition and expensive fuel prices had sent its operation into a 100 million baht loss, but it is not only still flying, but also facing the challenge by opening up new routes.

Udom Tantiprasongchai, President of Orient Thai Airlines which owns the One to Go low-cost service, said his company would persist despite the loss because it has faith in the potential of the budget travel market.

The company is not making money because it has never raised ticket prices since the start of its operations in 2003, he added.

Offsetting the loss is the fact that its Bangkok-Hong Kong route is doing well, so are military and flight services to repatriate refugees for the United Nations, said Mr. Udom.

Orient Thai would inaugurate two new routes on Friday, he said, a Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani route and a Bangkok-Surat Thani service.

New domestic routes connecting Bangkok to the southern Trang, Krabi, and Nakhon Si Thammarat Provinces are planned, as is a service from Bangkok to Phnom Penh.

--TNA 2005-08-10