Non-Stop Flights to BKK?

[youngfarang]

Now that the price of oil is 50% less than its all time high in July 2008' date=' perhaps Thai Airlines

was premature in cancelling their non-stop flight from New York.[/quote']

 

The problem has really been with the A345. It did not come close to the performance specs that airbus had projected. To make the ultra-long-haul routes, it needed to carry far less payload. Thus fewer, lighter seats (goodbye F class, hello premium economy), and no cargo capacity. Even when TG was running JFK-BKK with pretty impressive load factors (reported to be above 80%), they were still losing money hand over fist. SQ reportedly was also losing money ... don't know how they are doing now that they have converted their A345's to an all-Business Class configuration.

 

The only reason TG is still running the LAX flights is they could not dump the A345's at anything close to book value.

 

Wow you actually decided to contribute a somewhat decent post to a thread. It's about time!

 

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

And the point of yours.....other than to ridicule is what???

 

To add to rcs's post.....lot's of times the money isn't in selling the seats, it's in the cargo hauled. So removing seats seems to be at least 2-fold benefit. More room for the passengers so you could really charge more and also if you have less passenger weight, that allows you to carry more cargo which is where the real money is made anyway.

 

 

 

[USVirgin]

Cargo helps, that's for sure. I still say the route is a difficult proposition, no matter what aircraft they put on it. Sometimes an airline will keep an unprofitable route to a place like the USA because of prestige or politics (things I'm not privy to, but they do it).

[matta330]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the "prestige" remark. The TG flights to JFK were considered a prestige route.

[gobbledonk]

Surprised to hear this - Brisbane, a city of only a million people (servicing about two million total within a 150km radius) has direct flights to BKK daily. Granted, we live in the same region, but surely Bangkok is still one of the 'gateways to Asia' for business travellers worldwide ? I guess its just rationalisation in an industry which has had some rocky times over the last 10 years. I suspect that OH could tell us more.

 

Gobble

[shygye]

Nope, as a center of business it is behind Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei.

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

True....all the flights going to Asia for the airline I worked for all went to Japan. Everything from the mainland U.S. and 2 out of the 3 from Honolulu went to Narita. The only other flight that didn't go there went to Kansai. Japan and China were the "dream" destinations of our upper execs. Especially China which apparantly they were awarded a route but have yet to utilize it direct from the U.S.

[gobbledonk]

Logically, Narita does make more sense from the US East Coast or even Hawaii, and Hong Kong isn't much further. From Oz, the situation is different, but I'd love to be able to relocate Brissie to somewhere around Carnarvon in WA and Bangkok to Surabaya, Schedule two flights a day and allow any attractive Asian woman to stay in 'my town' for 6 months at a time.

 

Carnarvon is almost directly beneath Surabaya

[shygye]

Do the math,

 

pax:cargo(LAX->NRT) + pax:cargo(NRT->BKK) > pax:cargo(LAX->BKK)

[rchapstick]

The Latest from TG

 

THAI saves non-stop LA flight

 

BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

 

Thai Airways International has resolved to keep its non-stop Bangkok-Los Angeles flights, which were to have been terminated last Sunday, as sharply lower oil prices are improving the route's viability. At least for the time being, the national carrier intends to continue the loss-making service until Jan 31 next year when it will be replaced by flights that stop over in Osaka.

 

Before then, the airline will assess the business environment, taking into account prevalent traffic demand and oil price movements, to see if the non-stop Bangkok-LA route should remain on its timetable, according to THAI executives.

 

THAI continues to operate Airbus A340-500 jetliners and to offer five flights a week on the route. The replacement flights with a stopover in Osaka will use Boeing B777-200ER jets, also at five flights per week.

 

The collapse of crude oil prices, from a peak of US$147 a barrel in mid-July to below $70 now, has reduced the huge cost pressure that would have grounded the ultra-long-haul air services altogether.

 

Jet fuel prices have fallen to about $80 a barrel, half of what they were three months ago.

 

Industry sources said THAI's decision to maintain the non-stop Bangkok-LA flights also reflected difficulties in disposing of its four-engine Airbus A340-500s in a market flooded with aircraft, old and new, that have been put up for sale due to the sharp downturn in the airline business.

 

One key problem that had threatened THAI's non-stop US flights was the limited seating capacity of the A340-500, which has 215 seats and only 60 in business class, which airlines can really make money from but cannot always fill.

 

Worsening the problem for the airline was the need to carry up to 210,000 litres of fuel on the 13,000-kilometre, 17-hour, flight, creating extra weight and reducing fuel efficiency.When oil prices were peaking, fuel on the Bangkok-LA flight represented 55% of the airline's total operating cost, well above the 34% average.

 

It is not immediately known whether THAI is considering reviving its daily non-stop services between Bangkok and New York, which were terminated on July 1 for cost reasons.

 

In another about-face, the flag carrier decided not to axe its non-stop flight between Bangkok and Auckland in its new timetable that starts this week, though it reduced the frequencies to three flights a week from four.

 

The plan to terminate the ultra-long-haul flight created an uproar in New Zealand's tourism industry when it was made known in August.

 

New Zealand is concerned that the suspension would not only curtail tourism flows between the cities, but affect traffic to New Zealand from other key points on THAI's network, particularly from Europe.