By The Nation
Bangkok Airways is stopping flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Xi-an, Guilin and Hiroshima from October.
n the statement, the company did not explain why it will stop the business. But passengers affected from the decision are advised to contact the airline at Tel. 1771.
The Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok-Xi-an routes will be discontinued on October 25, the Bangkok-Hiroshima on October 27 and Bangkok-Guilin on November 10.
Theo
Writer: BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA
Published: 24/09/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business
Bangkok Airways has embarked on an intensified rehabilitation plan including drastic cuts in costs and staffing in a renewed bid to turn its business around after facing its first loss in 40 years.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/media/content/20090924/69966.jpg
*‘**‘We will emerge stronger and leaner,’’ *
*says Bangkok Airways president *
Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth.
The privately owned regional carrier is embarking on an unprecedented downsizing - eliminating loss-making routes, scaling back its fleet and offering voluntary redundancies - as it struggles to pull out of a nosedive triggered by a severe industry downturn.
The award-winning airline lost 1.05 billion baht in the 18 months to June this year, said president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth.
The airline is now scrambling to cap its losses and to break even by the year-end before returning to profitability in the following years.
As part of its rationalisation, next month the airline will suspend four international routes, the largest number of routes to ever be simultaneously withdrawn from its network. Flights from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City and Xi’an will halt from Oct 25, while those to Hiroshima and Guilin will leave the flight programme on Oct 27.
Flights from Bangkok to Shenzhen, Fukuoka, Macau and Krabi have already been taken off the airline’s schedules as part of an earlier adjustment to weakened travel demand.
Bangkok Airways has also cancelled a planned lease of an ATR-72 propeller and has put off the delivery of an Airbus A319 jetliner from later this year to 2011 to correspond with its lower capacity requirement.
The carrier’s current fleet consists of eight ATR-72s (two of them leased to PB Air), six A319 jets, three A320s and one Boeing B717 that is due for phase-out next month.
The carrier lost an ATR 72 on Aug 4 when it slid off a runway after landing at Samui Airport and ploughed into a disused control tower, killing the pilot and and injuring 12 passengers and crew, four of them seriously.
Another major cost control being implemented is a voluntary redundancy offer to the airline’s 2,000-plus workforce with terms that are generous by local standards and well beyond the requirements of Thai labour laws.
The offer includes an early retirement plan that entitles employees to one month’s salary plus extra pay for each year of employment, up to a total of 36 months.
The airline cut executive pay and curbed expenses in earlier cost-control measures but has not laid off staff like some other carriers.
The deeper cost-control measures now being introduced should cut the airline’s costs by 100 million baht a month, Mr Puttipong told the Bangkok Post.
“We’re taking some steps back to regain our strength so that we can emerge stronger and leaner to face future challenges,” he said.
At least in the near term, the airline’s president - who flies as a professional pilot - does not see further cutbacks in Bangkok Airways’ manpower or network, which currently has eight domestic and seven international routes.
But the airline’s management will continue to monitor the market situation to see whether more extensive measures are required.
Mr Puttipong hopes to gradually improve balance sheets and return the carrier to its pre-crisis position in a few years, thanks to the expected global economic rebound and recovery in air travel demand.
“We have also seen some signs of recovery and the prospect for growth looks rather good,” said the 44-year-old son of the airline’s founder Dr Prasert.
His priority is to raise revenue and to boost lacklustre yields, which were overtaken by costs as fuel prices soared and competition in fares and routes intensified.
Fuel costs - which exceeded their budget by 1 billion baht - were the single biggest factor behind the airline’s losses in the past 18 months, he said.
High fuel prices also hit other carriers. Thai Airways International last year posted its first-ever loss in 43 years - a shortfall of 21.38 billion baht - because of a series of problems including mistimed fuel hedging and a sharp downturn in travel, plunging the national carrier into a cash crisis.
Bangkok Airways’ core strength as a full-service network is unaffected by the current changes, said Mr Puttipong.
The carrier’s order for six A350-XWBs, the new generation of wide-body aircraft being developed by Airbus, has not been altered by the rehabilitation plan.
The fleet, costing US$700-million, is due for delivery to Bangkok Airways from 2015.
*Bron: Bangkok Post / www.bangkokpost.com *
zouden ze dan hun prijzen opslagen??want Bangkok airways is ook niet goedkoop om mee te vliegen in Thailand.plastiek.