JJsushi Posted December 3, 2001 Report Share Posted December 3, 2001 THAI to Close Seven Off-line Offices in USA and Canada Thai Airways International Public Company Limited will officially close seven off-line offices in North America and Canada on 15 November 2001. Following the terrorist attacks in the United States, many passengers have suspended travel plans to the U.S., which has affected the capacity of THAI’s daily flights to and from the United States. Therefore, THAI plans to close seven of its off-line offices namely Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York and Toronto. Starting from 21 November 2001, THAI will reduce its flight frequency on the route Bangkok-Los Angeles v.v. from seven to six weekly services, except Wednesdays, via Japan (Narita and Osaka) utilizing Boeing 747-400. Passengers and customers in the United States and Canada who wish to contact THAI Offices may do so by contacting the following address and contact numbers: THAI’s Los Angeles office 222 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 1950 El Segundo, CA.90245 Tel. (1310) 640-0097 or 1-800-426-5204. Fax.(1310) 322-8728 III. Adjustment of THAI's flight timetable Since the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11th September, THAI's Board of Directors and Working Group have been monitoring the market situation as well as passenger and cargo movements on the routes operated by THAI in order to develop an appropriate flight timetable in accordance with demand. Today, the management meeting has approved the adjustments made to THAI's flight timetable as follows: 2. THAI will reduce its flight frequency on the route Bangkok - Los Angeles v.v. from seven to six weekly services. The cancellation applies to the flight, which departing from Bangkok on Wednesday, and take effect from 21 November 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2001 Report Share Posted December 3, 2001 Hmmm, makes you wonder, doesn't it? Closing the offices makes sense; one toll-free call center could do all the work. But cutting flights may not be the best way to go. A fair-market airline has to be very accountable to the bottm line and follow trends or else lose their credit rating and/or go out of business [PanAm, Braniff, etc.] On the other hand, TAI is a state-subsidised flag carrier. There's no way -- despite "journalism" to the contrary -- that they will fold. They could easily take the short-term hit operating a select few unprofitable routes. BKK-LAX is the only TAI route to the US after all. They ought to be figuring ways to get more people onto the route, improve public perception and service levels, etc. On the other hand, if there's no prestige value in flying to America, they should just target Asia, Australia and Europe and let United or another Star Alliance carrier take over their connecting service to America. Would make for logistical concerns at Narita perhaps, but they could re-enter the (North) American market when the economics are more favourable. I wonder if a code-share with United for LAX-NRT would preserve their LAX landing rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2001 Report Share Posted December 3, 2001 All-- I know the #2 person in the Sales Office in TG's El Segundo/LA office. She said that the foot traffic that the offices (that are to be closed) as so low that is just wasn't cost-justified.... As far as the flight reductions. She said that the load factors and "revenue yield" as been poor.. So, it looks like TG's moves are consistent with normal traditional business practices. --UPSer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted December 3, 2001 Report Share Posted December 3, 2001 As an airline vetern of 21+ years, perhapes I can weigh in here. Basically, every last airline is totally fucked up! Poorly managed if managed at all, one bad decision after another, no concept of long term customer base etc. I could go on, but why bother? Part of this mismanagement is the simple fact that there are too many seats and not enough asses to fill them. Solution? lower your fares, and get all the business (in the industry it is called a fare war) then, all the other airlines have to match the lower fare, and thus no one makes any money. Throw a recession and a few terrorist attacks in, and it spells disaster for all. Another part of the problem is the accounting practices these guys are allowed to use. They start a quarter with 2 billion, end with 1.6 billion and post a 1 billion dollar loss, yet have money to buy more jets, and other lines, and give golden parachutes to the exec's who fucked it up in the first place......Oh sorry, I am ranting, what was the topic again...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatbastard Posted December 4, 2001 Report Share Posted December 4, 2001 If you add up all the P&Ls from all the airlines since the inception of comercial flight, they have been nett wealth destroyers. Not my maths but Warren Buffet's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 4, 2001 Report Share Posted December 4, 2001 Fatbastard + Old Hippie, interesting points from you both. Thanks. I wonder if any mode of transport has ever net profitable. Maybe if it involves animals since they can always feed and reproduce by themselves... Yes, the airline industry is sick and yet it never dies. Sort of Shakespearean. I guess if only 7 out of 10 airlines survive whenever a downturn comes, the trick is to consistently be one of the seven. It's a complex problem and I like OH's notion that it starts with over-capacity. Reduce the number of planes to a bare minimum and then auction tickets direct to consumers. It would find its own level very quickly -- more planes idle [and sold] or better profits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 4, 2001 Report Share Posted December 4, 2001 THAI's decisionto cut back on US flights is because they have gone from fully loaded to 50% empty since the attacks in the US. They will be going to 3 flights per week in the new year. They will though transfer the capacity to europe which has not had the same problem of lack of bums on seats. The major difference in thought patterns between US and europe is we have lived with terrorism for 30 years plus, this is a new phenomena for the US, that is my 2 cents on that issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 4, 2001 Report Share Posted December 4, 2001 Old Hippie-- As a long-time stockholder in UAL, I can say that when Wolf left the company I felt better... Once Greenwald announced the possible merger with US Air (with Wolfe at the helm @ US Air) I felt sick again.... I agree that (with the exception if Southwest) all major airlines have had a string of poor managers at the helm.. Either they creat "ill-will" with labor (ALPA, AFA or IAM) or with the very same passengers that they are trying to serve... While I do not support a return to the regulated market of the 70's, I do think that there needs to be a more "sane" way to offer tickets without the total destruction of "yield management" concepts.. I think that TG's cuback in US bound service is totally logical and rational.. If you have reduced demand then you must equally reduce supply to stabilize the current price. Since the actual cost of flying a jet (Cost Per available Seat Mile) CPaSM is largely fixed due to the fact that most of the major costs are fixed (aircraft leasing, labor, fuel, etc) TG needs to do reduce the shear # of seats that are moving... Have you noticed that SQ's cargo daily SIN-NRT-ANC-LAX flights have been cut into LAX and CI's cargo into SFOIA is running at only 66% load.. These asian carriers are loosing millions every day on their US operations... I agree that European markets have held up much better than US-markets, but the European markets cannot "make-up" the revenue and passenger/cargo volume lost in the US.. Plus most carriers can't get more slots into the major hub airports (FRA/CDG/BRU) in continental europe and LHR. I've always wondered to myself if I bought UAL stock not as a profit motive, but rather to help me offset my other gains with a loss. I have a lot of empathy for you and your fellow UAL labor employees, it would be very difficult (if not impossible) to work everyday under management conditions like those at UAL and yet still perform in a top-notch manner as you all do. Kudos to you! --UPSer aka Another guy who flyes over 1K per year on UA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted December 4, 2001 Report Share Posted December 4, 2001 UPSer, yea, pretty much the deal here. It is very hard to go to work everyday with all the crap going on at UAL. Add that to no raise for over 7 years, and the whole thing sucks. I think the big part of the management problem is the golden parachutes. Where is the insentive for top management? I mean these guys go to work knowing that if they screw up and get pushed out, so what? They still collect their salaries. Truely my dream job! As for Thai cutting flights, I agree with that decision as well. It makes sense to cut supply when demand is low. I don't think I support total re-regulation either, but I think something has to be done, basically, I think they need to stop the fare wars, and maybe cut some of the periferal costs as well. As far as labor goes, The piolots, the rampers, the cleaners, the storekeeper guys are at industry standard as far as wages go. The counter people and the mechanics are among the lowest paid in the industry. I'm not sure how the mangement stands in terms of industry stands for wages. Most of us are convinced things aren't that bad yet, or certainly not any different then any airline right now. The trouble is comming up with a viable solution to the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycona Posted December 4, 2001 Report Share Posted December 4, 2001 Yeah it seems that BKK - US v.v. flights have been almost empty since sept 11. Maybe Thai Airways can set in a few extra planes to Europe It is very hard to get any cheap tickets to BKK here! Fully booked till March!! On my last trip with Air France the plane was completely full both ways between Paris & BKK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.