THAI To Shift Japan Flights To South Korea

THAI to shift Japan flights to South Korea

BANGKOK, March 30 -- Thai Airways International (THAI), the kingdom's national flag carrier, would shift one flight daily from Japan's Narita Airport to South Korea after fewer passengers destined to Japan following massive earthquake and destructive tsunami earlier this month, according to THAI President Piyasvasti Amranand.

Mr Piyasvasti said THAI's revenue has been dropping following the disaster in Japan.

The THAI president said this period of year is normally a high season for Japan travel with a high capacity in the cabin factor, the percentage of seats sold, which normally reaches some 90 per cent, but over the past two weeks, THAI's cabin load factor for flights to Japan has dropped to 50 per cent capacity.

THAI has consequently been forced to rearrange its flights to generate more revenue by cutting one flight to Narita Airport from the previous total of three flights daily.

Flights to other airports -- Haneda, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka -- remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, he said flights to South Korea will be increased by one more flight daily starting in April in response to higher demand of passenger to South Korea.

He said South Korea is becoming a more popular destination for Thai travellers and revenues from South Korean flights could compensate for the loss of the Japanese flight revenues which has so far dropped by 5 per cent. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-03-30