Thai Airways To Increase Capacity, Fly Hyderabad

Anindita Chattopadhyay - New Delhi

Thai Airways International, which currently has daily flights to Mumbai and Delhi, five flights to Kolkata, four flights to Chennai and five flights to Bangalore, has planned to commence operations to Hyderabad by October. The carrier also plans to increase capacity in the Delhi-Bangkok route keeping in view the constant increase in traffic. "We had planned to start the Hyderabad operation in May, but now it will only be in October. We will add the new port of call in the winter schedule," said Ravi Talwar, area sales manager - India, Thai Airways.

Commenting on the capacity increase, Sudhagun Divaveja, general manager, India and Bhutan, Thai Airways said, "We are already flying full in the Delhi sector. So, we have decided to serve the sector with B777-300s from April instead of the current combination of A330s and B777-200s. Six months down the line, we will start operating a 405-seater B747 with three-class configuration because there is a demand for premium class in India."

Thai carried 80,000 passengers in six months (April to September) from India to Bangkok and beyond. With eight frequencies added during the open sky period (same frequencies to continue in the summer schedule), the number of passengers in the second half of fiscal 2004-2005 is expected to be much higher. Introducing 777-300 would mean an immediate increase of 75 seats per flight, while the 747 would add another 35 seats including in the First Class. The move coincides with the recent launch of the airline's in-house tour programme, Royal Orchid Holidays (ROH), in the India market. The airline has appointed two agents in north India - The Travel People and In Air Holidays - to sell the packages. The programme was introduced to world tourists in 1969, but was not available in India.

However, denying that it was an effort to attract more tourists to Thailand in the post-tsunami scenario, Talwar said, "We did not launch this package because RBI restrictions does not allow airlines to sell anything beyond air tickets and cargo. But now we have pressure from the head office to promote the ROH aggressively as all SBUs of Thai Airways International will have to be commercially viable. Hence we have appointed agents and would sell packages through them."

According to Divaveja, the idea is to save tourists from experiences of holidays going wrong. "We stress value-for-money. We take all responsibility in giving a no-snag experience. It is like an unpackaged package wherein a traveller can choose a convenient date and length of stay and can extend it if he wants. We have tied up with hotels and resorts for special tariffs." A two night three day package starts from Rs 17,000 inclusive of accommodation, breakfast, airport transfer and sightseeing and can go up based on the choice of hotels, resorts and spas. The carrier, hoping to sell 500 packages per month for the next three months, expects the load factor to increase by 15 per cent.