News Forum - THAI Airways announces 2023 summer schedule

[Thaiger]

THAI Airways has announced its summer schedule and expanded its services around the globe. The flagship carrier of Thailand will add on 39 routes to Europe, 9 to Asia, and 30 routes to China for the summer. Between March 26 and October 28, more routes will operate and flights will run more frequently on the …

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[palooka]

Another 21 flights a week will go to Australia.

Sure I read complaints of Thai dumping Australia flights, now want to add more??????????????????

[Vigo]

50 minutes ago, palooka said:

Another 21 flights a week will go to Australia.

Sure I read complaints of Thai dumping Australia flights, now want to add more??????????????????

It's called market demand and Seasonal Service. Airlines regularly reduce frequency when there is little or no demand for a service. Why would you expect the airline to incur a loss?  Airlines  adjust schedules to reflect  the people wanting to travel.  There was no need for high frequency service to Australia during Covid because of the lack of demand.

[palooka]

11 hours ago, Vigo said:

It's called market demand and Seasonal Service. Airlines regularly reduce frequency when there is little or no demand for a service. Why would you expect the airline to incur a loss?  Airlines  adjust schedules to reflect  the people wanting to travel.  There was no need for high frequency service to Australia during Covid because of the lack of demand.

Think they just stopped a direct service Bangkok to Perth that some say was very popular, and now is one of the peak seasons . So ??????????

[Mazz11]

On 3/9/2023 at 8:50 AM, palooka said:

Think they just stopped a direct service Bangkok to Perth that some say was very popular, and now is one of the peak seasons . So ??????????

Yes

Prior to covid there were two flights a day direct Perth - Bangkok and from my experience the flights were very popular. Every time I flew on these flights they were full.

[Mazz11]

On 3/8/2023 at 9:39 PM, Vigo said:

It's called market demand and Seasonal Service. Airlines regularly reduce frequency when there is little or no demand for a service. Why would you expect the airline to incur a loss?  Airlines  adjust schedules to reflect  the people wanting to travel.  There was no need for high frequency service to Australia during Covid because of the lack of demand.

The lack of demand was created by the Australian government all but closing the borders so people were not allowed to leave the country without permission from some bureaucrat, so very few airlines operated in Australia at this time.

There is now a large demand for flights from Perth to Bangkok and Thai Airways and the Perth people are missing out.

[Vigo]

52 minutes ago, Mazz11 said:

The lack of demand was created by the Australian government all but closing the borders so people were not allowed to leave the country without permission from some bureaucrat, so very few airlines operated in Australia at this time.

There is now a large demand for flights from Perth to Bangkok and Thai Airways and the Perth people are missing out.

maybe there is a large demand, but in the absence of market surveys, you don't really know do you?

Thai is flying with an 85% load factor now and there is a worldwide shortage of  aircraft and crews to fly aircraft. An airline must select the routes that offer the greatest profitability. Perth - Bangkok was a price sensitive route and in order to compete with Air Asia, and Scoot Thai must offer air fares that are non profitable. Singapore airlines flies the route because it is a feeder for  other SQ flights. If and when the route is viable for a full service airline and there are crews and equipment available, Thai may return. However, at this time the regional Asian services are much more profitable.

[Highlandman]

On 3/8/2023 at 7:44 PM, palooka said:

Another 21 flights a week will go to Australia.

Sure I read complaints of Thai dumping Australia flights, now want to add more??????????????????

They haven't added more. They currently serve Melbourne twice daily and Sydney once daily. They're simply maintaining the same schedule. Doesn't look like flights from Phuket are coming back, nor are flights from Bangkok to Brisbane or Perth.

[Highlandman]

On 3/10/2023 at 12:16 PM, Vigo said:

maybe there is a large demand, but in the absence of market surveys, you don't really know do you?

Thai is flying with an 85% load factor now and there is a worldwide shortage of  aircraft and crews to fly aircraft. An airline must select the routes that offer the greatest profitability. Perth - Bangkok was a price sensitive route and in order to compete with Air Asia, and Scoot Thai must offer air fares that are non profitable. Singapore airlines flies the route because it is a feeder for  other SQ flights. If and when the route is viable for a full service airline and there are crews and equipment available, Thai may return. However, at this time the regional Asian services are much more profitable.

Doesn't seem like that's the reason, given THAI flew to Perth from July to October then abruptly stopped serving the city. I don't think they'll return. Thai isn't even flying to any of its immediate neighbors such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam. All these markets are served only by Thai Smile. You'd think THAI would fly domestic, but again no. They pulled the plug even on Chiang Mai and Phuket, which were surely profitable.

Of course, having only half as many aircraft as they had pre 2020, may have something to do with it too.

As for SIA serving Perth, they don't just fly there because it's big feeder route. It's also because Australia and Singapore share a close trading relationship. A close business relationship. A lot of Malaysians and Singaporeans live in Perth. A lot of Aussies, based in Perth have business dealings with Singapore and Malaysia.

By contrast, Thailand is merely a vacation destination. Thailand doesn't have nearly the importance to the Australian (including west Australian) economy as Malaysia and Singapore do.

Just look how many different Australian products can be found on Malaysian and Singaporean supermarket shelves. Almost half of what you find sold there, seems to come from Australia. They have the full range of Bundaberg soft drinks. In Thailand, I've yet to see anything other than Bundaberg ginger beer and root beer. Not even lemonade is sold here. Even in Laos I've seen more flavors sold - they have lemonade, as well as lemon, lime and bitters. Cambodia sells like 7 flavors, Vietnam sells most of them, China too. Only Thailand doesn't, which makes no sense in light of the higher purchasing power of Thais and much larger expat and tourist population than in these last 4 mentioned countries.

Sorry for the slightly off topic Bundaberg rant, but my point stands - there are way more reasons for airlines to offer flights between Perth and Singapore/Malaysia than Thailand.

Thailand is a low yielding market that is almost exclusively about tourism. Very little business travel involves Thailand. Thai students generally study in Sydney and Melbourne, that's where the Thai diaspora is based. Very few people of Thai origin live in Perth. 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

On 3/10/2023 at 11:06 AM, Mazz11 said:

Yes

Prior to covid there were two flights a day direct Perth - Bangkok and from my experience the flights were very popular. Every time I flew on these flights they were full.

Actually there was only one daily flight. Some of them originated in Phuket, then those were axed and it was only to/from Bangkok.

They might have been popular because no other airline has flown Perth-Bangkok or for that matter Perth-Phuket for years.

During Covid, there were regular (possibly weekly or even twice weekly) Qantas flights between Perth and Bangkok. Strangely, these have not turned into regular a post-Covid service. Then again, Qantas isn't known for launching such services, they're more about axing routes than beginning new ones (though post-Covid, they seem to be more ambitious and less conservative than they used to be).

Edited March 11, 2023 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

On 3/8/2023 at 8:39 PM, Vigo said:

It's called market demand and Seasonal Service. Airlines regularly reduce frequency when there is little or no demand for a service. Why would you expect the airline to incur a loss?  Airlines  adjust schedules to reflect  the people wanting to travel.  There was no need for high frequency service to Australia during Covid because of the lack of demand.

There was no need for high frequency flights from anywhere to Thailand due to lack of demand either. This is why THAI's international services all but ground to a halt during this period.

Thailand's quarantine lasted much longer than Australia's (granted, at the beginning of loosened restrictions, to avoid quarantine you had to be vaccinated to travel to Australia but then again, prior to April 2022, a 10 day quarantine applied to the unvaccinated entering Thailand and 5 days during April 2022). Australia scrapped all Covid rules 3 months before Thailand and the return of flights to Australia happened more quickly than the return of flights servicing Thailand, in terms of getting back to or close to pre Covid frequencies.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Highlandman