New strategic partnership between Thai Airways International and SAS

BANGKOK: -- Thai Airways International and SAS Scandinavian Airlines recently held a code share agreement signing ceremony at THAI's head office in Bangkok.

The code share agreement will include services to/from Bangkok-Singapore/Hong Kong/Kuala Lumpur/Sydney from December 15, 2006, and Bangkok-Melbourne/Brisbane/Auckland/Perth from January 15, 2007, as well as to/from Copenhagen-Oslo/Gothenburg/Aalborg/Aarhus from December 15, 2006.

"Travel activity between Southeast Asia/Oceania and Scandinavia has undergone strong expansion in recent years and is expected to grow further. SAS can offer an optimal schedule to provide convenient connections with our intercontinental flights to and from Bangkok in the new Star Terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport," said Lars Sandahl, Chief Commercial Officer, Scandinavian Airlines International.

--AsiaTravelTips.com 2006-11-30

It looks more like a cost cutting measure.

SAS was coming to BKK and then hopping to HKG/SIN/KLU. Now, THAI will do that bit and relieve SAS from spending on crews' accommodation and perdiems in those 2hrs flight cities.

I thought it had already happened last year. Maybe the codeshare is new now?