Thailand airfare war hots up

Just a day after Thai Airways International (THAI) entered the discount airfare market with its “Fly THAI, get more” promotional fares designed to “put AirAsia's offering to shame,” local carrier Bangkok Airways (BA) has fired back with its own “Flyer Pass” range of discounted air fares. The THAI campaign sees the airline cutting it’s fares by 20 percent below seasonal standard fares, with up to one-third of all seats on all THAI flights being sold at the promotional rate. Pandit Chanapai, executive vice-president for THAI's commercial department said on Tuesday the airline hoped the campaign will help it fight back against the low-cost carriers and increase its flight load to 70 percent. "We are telling the public there is another good option for buying air tickets and that we are ready to compete squarely with other airlines".

In direct response, privately owned BA responded on Wednesday with a series of “Flyer Pass’s, priced between Bt9,000 and Bt29,000 (about $US264 to $US851) for a booklet of four flight tickets valid for one year. The Flexi Pass-Fun package, priced at Bt9,000, is valid for all domestic routes flown by BA, while the mid priced Flyer Pass-Fusion covers domestic routes as well as flights from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh, or Phnom Penh. The Flexi Pass-Fancy, priced at Bt19,500, can be used for domestic and international routes, including Bangkok to Siem Reap or Luang Prabang, or from Samui to Singapore, while the most expensive package, the Flyer Pass-Freedom, priced at Bt29,000, can be used on the Bangkok to Hiroshima or the Bangkok to Maldives sectors. BAs senior sales director, Chonlada Chevathakorn, said the airline had prepared a total of 20,000 tickets across the four packages and expected them to be sold out within four months.

According to Chonlada, “in general Bangkok Airways does not give discounted fares to passengers during the high season for traveling, but we are doing so this year, to stimulate passenger numbers. “The average air fare under the promotion is discounted by 20 per cent from normal prices," she said.

According to THAI, its entry into the discount airline market has been brought about by airlines continuing to undercut each other in a desperate bid to cope with a market marred by global recession and pandemic A(H1N1), which has seen the airlines’ passenger numbers from east Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea tank by up to 20 percent.

The new THAI promotional fares will see an all-inclusive round-trip start at Bt2,810 for domestic routes, while regional flights start at Bt4,300. Whereas the THAI promotional tickets must be purchased by July 31, and travel made before September 30, BAs Flyer Pass’s are valid for travel between August 1 this year and July 31, 2010.

(Thaivis)