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Thai Airways decision on Indian operations soon

Ashwini Phadnis

BANGKOK, Dec. 14

THAI Airways International is to decide soon on whether it should operate more flights to Delhi or start a new service to Mumbai.

Senior airline officials told Business Line that the decision on the Indian operations would be taken by the newly-reconstituted Thai board which assumed office on Thursday.

Officials said the question of how much royalty the Thai national carrier should pay Air India for starting a new service on the Bangkok-Mumbai-Bangkok sector may force the airline to consider operating more flights to Delhi rather than starting a new se rvice to Mumbai.

AI officials, however, said that even though they had sent the draft agreement to Thai Airways for the operations they were yet to hear from it. ``An agreement has been reached and sent to Thai Airways. It is now for them to get back with their comments. The ball is firmly in their court,'' said the Director Public Relations, Mr Jitendra Bhargava. Officials said the agreement related to seats and other issues.

However, Thai Airways officials refused to quantify how much royalty the airline is willing to pay and what AI is asking for to start the new service.

``The airline will look at the possibility of either having more flights to Delhi or starting new services to Mumbai. Right now, no firm decision has been taken. If we decide not to operate to Mumbai, Thai Airways is more than ready to operate eight week ly flights on the Bangkok-Delhi-Bangkok sector,'' senior officials said. Besides, Thai Airways is also keen to operate to cities in the South, including Chennai.

Currently, Thai Airways operates five times a week on the Bangkok-Delhi-Bangkok sector besides having regular services to Calcutta. It was given Mumbai as the additional point of call in 1999.

Officials said that Indian Airlines offering more services on the Delhi-Bangkok-Delhi sector was unlikely to make a major difference to the operations of the big players. ``On this sector, demand outstrips capacity being offered. In our opinion, there is enough traffic for Thai Airways to operate daily services from Bangkok to both Delhi and Mumbai,'' Thai officials said. The airline views India as a medium haul destination and operates a Boeing 777 aircraft on the Bangkok-Delhi-Bangkok sector offering upwards of 300 seats on each flight in each direction.

Meanwhile, the airline has announced a change in the timing of its operations on the Bangkok-Delhi-Bangkok sector effective December 15.