Thai Airways Suspends All Direct Flights: Phuket To Australia

[sriracha john]

THAI Airways International is suspending direct flight services linking the resort island of Phuket with Sydney and Melbourne from next Wednesday.

Vasing Kittikul, Thai Airways commercial department executive vice-president, said there has been an increase overall in traffic between Thailand and Australia, but the three scheduled direct flights to Phuket were unprofitable.

Thai International launched the direct services to Phuket in 2003.

However, the service has a seating yield capacity of just 62 to 65 per cent -- short of the more than 70 per cent needed to break even, Mr Vasing said.

He also blamed sharply higher costs due to fuel prices for the decision.

Thai Airways offers 14 Bangkok-Sydney flights a week and 11 Bangkok-Melbourne flights.

Mr Vasing said there would be no change to the schedule between Bangkok and Australia.

On the domestic routes, the airline offers as many as 12 daily flight services between Bangkok and Phuket, with an average over the year of 10 flights a day.

Thai International is relying on its main network routes, especially from the Asia region as well as the European Kangaroo Route flights into Australia.

Last year an estimated 400,000 Australians travelled to Thailand.

- Herald Sun

[sriracha john]

Phuket authorities urges THAI to review flight plans

Dismayed Phuket authorities have asked Thai Airways International (THAI) not to axe its direct flights from Australia to the island, fearing it would hurt the tourism industry's revival.

The local government and tourism operators are concerned about the flag carrier's decision to end it's scheduled flights linking Phuket, Sydney and Melbourne on Feb 1, following losses of 260 million baht since last April.

Suwalai Pinpradab, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Region 4 Southern Office, said Australia had become a prime market for Phuket in the post-tsunami period. Australians are now the second largest arrivals group after South Koreans, surpassing those from Europe who normally top the list.

''In the aftermath of the tsunami, Australians have returned to Phuket at a much faster pace than the others, as they picked Phuket over their popular destination, Bali, for their holidays,'' she said.

One reason was the convenience of THAI's direct flights, she said.

Immigration Bureau figures showed that Australian arrivals at Phuket airport in the first 10 months of last year totalled 43,083, representing 10.41% of all international arrivals.

But THAI yesterday was firm on its decision to end the direct service.

''It is very difficult to continue (with the flights) in light of high costs, especially fuel prices, and the low cabin factor (occupancy). We cannot afford to shoulder all the financial burden by ourselves,'' said Vasing Kittikul, executive vice-president for the commercial department.

''Have the authorities, the local government and the tourism industry, ever thought about providing assistance to enable THAI to stay afloat?

''What about the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) providing us with a cost subsidy, AoT (Airports of Thailand Plc) waiving Phuket's airport charges and the local tourism industry coming up with packages that help carriers?''

Mr Vasing insisted that the carrier had thoroughly considered all factors before arriving at the decision to stop the flights.

''These are the flights where we don't get passenger contributions from other (route) sectors. It's point-to-point traffic,'' he added.

James Batt, joint managing director of Laguna Resorts & Hotels, added :''If they can only fill a 747 jumbo jet at 65% or so, and need 70% (to break even), why on earth wouldn't they put on a smaller plane? They hardly need first class on that route, anyway.''

Ms Suwalai said that Phuket governor Udomsak Uswarangura would invite senior THAI executives to the province to talk about retaining the service.