THAI urged to resume some cancelled routes

Ittirit Kinglake, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), said the private sector is disappointed that THAI has cut some of its important routes, especially to European Union countries and Russia, because these nations bring a lot of quality tourists into the country.

“Without the national airline and direct connectivity, the number of inbound and outbound travellers will fall. The country will also lose competiveness and strength not only in the short term, but also in the long term,” Ittirit warned. “We don’t see the impact today because it is the low season. But we will need seats during the peak period starting from October until February next year. But cutting flights will definitely hit Thai tourism,” he said.

It would provide a much-needed boost to the tourism industry, he said, if the national flag carrier could rethink its network adjustment by resuming some key routes, preferably ahead of the high season. If it is not possible to resume cancelled routes, Ittirit said, the airline should seek alliances with other airlines in order to maintain two-way tourism and foster competiveness.

Starting from October, THAI will suspend its Bangkok-Los Angeles route and, in February next year, it will suspend its Bangkok-Rome route. In the first quarter of this year, THAI cut services to Moscow, Johannesburg and Madrid, reducing the number of Russian, South African and Spanish tourists. The airline also suspended flights to Sapporo, in Japan, and is considering cutting even more loss-making routes. According to Ittirit, it would be very difficult for the airline to resume suspended routes because tourists and travel operators would already have shifted to other airlines.

Meanwhile, the airline may face tougher security inspections from aviation authorities.

“Thai airlines, in particular, will be subject to intensive safety inspections by the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] and other aviation authorities before obtaining permission to operate services,” he said.

However, THAI is increasing the frequency of its services to London and Frankfurt to make up for the suspended routes. The airline is also planning to operate two or three new destinations in China to cope with the growing number of Chinese tourists.

Kasian Watanachaopisut, acting president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association, said more Chinese will be holidaying in Thailand due to the devaluation of the Chinese currency, the yuan, which will enable them to get better value for their money.

The association expects more than 1 million Chinese to visit Thailand during the so-called “golden week” holiday period in earlier October.