Garuda adds capacity to BKK

From the beginning of summer schedule, 28 March, Garuda Indonesia will deploy a new B737-800NG on its Bangkok-Jakarta route. The change boosts seat capacity by 70%.

Garuda phases out a 96-seat B737-500 for the new 162-seat B737-800 that has 12 seats in business class and 150 in economy.

Offering a daily service, the weekly seat capacity rises from 672 seats per sector to 1,134 seats, representing a 68.75% overall increase.

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Malaysia Airlines adds flights

Malaysia Airlines adds frequencies on its Paris route from five times weekly to daily, effective 28 March.

From Kuala Lumpur, the flight departs at 2335 and arrives in Paris at 0640. Thai passengers who are connecting with this service fly MH783 from Suvarnabhumi Airport departing at 1705 and arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 2015. The flight from Paris returns to Kuala Lumpur at 0635 allowing Thai travellers to catch the 0910 flight to Bangkok that arrives at 1015.

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THAI upgrades channel business

Thai Airways International says it will use its 50th anniversary celebrations to extend its reach through website and mobile phone communications.

THAI will kick off mobile services, via mthaiairways.com. Customers will be able check-in, find information and flight status using their mobile phones. Check-in via mobile phone will be identical to check-in via a computer.

On the website, the airline will reduce booking steps from seven clicks to four clicks to complete a booking in a more user-friendly manner. It has also started to display lower fares on the website to attract traffic.

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PG and VISA giveaway tickets

Bangkok Airways partners with VISA to give Thai cardholders discounts on fares when buying two economy class tickets.

VISA Premium Privilege is valid for VISA Platinum, VISA Signature and VISA Infinite cardholders and for bookings made via www.bangkokair.com only.

The deals are:

Cardholders buy two economy class tickets for the price of one.

They buy two business class tickets to Samui and Maldives, which gives them complimentary roundtrip economy class tickets on domestic routes between Bangkok and Samui, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Sukhothai or Trat.

THAI’s goes into retro mode

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Thai Airways International’s Royal Orchid Holidays sells a “retro flight” to Hong Kong, 1 May to commemorate the airline’s very first commercial flight that landed in Hong Kong, 1 May 1960.

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Lufthansa’s not so super deal

Lufthansa is plugging cheap online fares to boost traffic on its flights from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur.

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IATA monitors January upturn

International Air Transport Association reports January passenger demand for international scheduled air traffic showed continuing improvement, increasing 6.4%. A 1.2% increase in passenger capacity pushed load factors to 75.9%, up from the 72.2% recorded in the same month last year.

Iata says the large increases in year-on-year comparisons reflect a steady improvement from the precipitous fall in demand that characterised the early part of 2009 rather than a dramatic improvement in January.

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THAI returns to profit

Thai Airways International achieved a net profit of Bt7.34 billion for the year 2009 compared with a loss of Bt21.379 billion  in the previous year.

THAI chairman, Ampon Kittiampon, announced the official results at the close of a board meeting, last week.

He said: “We are back on our feet again after a financial crisis. This was the result of devotion of all staff and an adjustments to comply with regulations and adopt fiscal measures to reduce costs.”

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Kingfisher to fly Oneworld

Kingfisher Airlines is seeking approval from India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation to proceed with its membership in the Oneworld airline alliance.

Once it has gained approval it will take about 18 months to complete the admission process, when it can start to take advantage of code-share and frequent flyer co-operation.

Kingfisher will add 58 cities to the Oneworld map – all of them in India. Five of the current members–American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian have flights to Indian gateways that can connect with Kingfisher’s domestic network.

Airlines improve healthcare

Etihad Airways will use a tele-medicine device to allow cabin crew to gather vital information on a passenger if they require emergency medical assistance during a flight.

The captain will still make the traditional announcement; “is there a doctor on board?”. But the crew will be able to count on the assistance of a Tempus IC unit to assess vital signs, while a professional opinion is being sought.

The equipment will be available on long-haul flights, using A340s or Boeing 777s. One of the routes is Abu Dhabi-Bangkok and some passengers are travelling to Bangkok for medical treatment.

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