Its promotional fares are competitive for both travel classes when compared with offers by other airlines serving Johannesburg with one-stop flights.

THAI flew to South Africa up until  early 2009  when it suspended the service due to a downturn in the economy. Now as South Africa hosts the World Cup, it has returned with a non-stop service  to Johannesburg , four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, with a flight time of 11 hours.

It will use Boeing 777-200ER with 292 seats (30 seats in Royal Silk Class and 262 in economy).

TG703 will depart Bangkok at 0115 and arrive in Johannesburg at 0730 on the same day. The return TG704 will depart at 1340 and land in Bangkok at 0555 on the following day.

The promotional Royal Silk class fare is Bt90,240 including taxes and surcharges. Mileage can be accrued.

In economy class, the deal is Bt31,100 all-in flights departing Monday and Thursday, while it is slightly higher at Bt33,250 for Friday and Saturday departures. No mileage accumulation for economy class promotional fares.

For two passengers travelling together, THAI offers a “Fly Together to Johannesburg” promotion at Bt85,940 all-in per passenger.  For a group of five or more, the individual fare will drop to Bt80,565.

Royal Orchid Plus members are entitled to receive bonus mileage accumulation when they travel roundtrip between Bangkok and Johannesburg using a normal fare. Passengers travelling in Royal Silk Class will receive 2,000 miles and those travelling in economy class will receive 1,000 miles.

Also, Royal Orchid Plus members will receive a 25% discount towards redeeming award tickets for travel on this route on all classes of travel.

Promotions are open for bookings now and valid for travel between 2 June and 31 August. All Royal Orchid Plus promotional offers exclude travel during the World Cup period from 11 June to 11 July.

The best web fare currently available is Bt36,825, inclusive of taxes and surcharges.

Other options to Johannesburg are offered out of Singapore, Malaysia, India Middle East and Africa. From these countries, there are convenient daily services with relatively seamless connections. All of flights arrive in Johannesburg in the morning.

Ethiopian Airlines pegs its lowest V-Class fare on the Bangkok-Addis Ababa- Johannesburg route  at Bt34,07, inclusive of surcharges and taxes. It operates four times a week out of Bangkok and there is a one-hour and 30-minute connecting time to its service to Johannesburg out of its Addis Ababa hub.

Kenya Airways flies out of Bangkok, late night, to connect in Nairobi with its intra-Africa flight in the morning with one hour and a half connecting time. The lowest fare is around Bt32,600 for economy class and Bt92,000 for business, all-in.

Singapore Airlines’ economy fares during the World Cup month sell at least Bt44,985 and afterwards at around Bt38,735. A business class fare is ridiculously high — Bt183,900 in June and Bt165,135 from July. Connecting time at Changi Airport is about one hour and a half on both sectors.

Malaysia Airlines, like THAI, flies four times a week to Johannesburg . Its Johannesburg fare starts at Bt37,485 for economy class and Bt96,135, business class, during the World Cup or after. Connecting time in Kuala Lumpur is two hours and a half for outbound sector and three hours inbound.

Jet Airways provides a service via Mumbai. Passengers from Thailand will face a connecting time in Mumbai of two hours and 20 minutes, but only one hour and a half on the return journey. The economy fare starts from Bt34,030 and business class from Bt73,895 . Currently, the airline is giving a 10% discount off the quoted fare for online bookings by filling the promo code “JPBKK0510”.

Going via Middle East airports, Qatar Airways quotes Bt41,145, as its lowest fare in June and from Bt34,150 July onwards. The business class fare starts from Bt78,150 in June, but in the high season month of July, it sells at Bt83,150. The connecting time in Doha is one and a half hours outbound and 45 minutes inbound.

Emirates sells a Johannesburg economy fare from Bangkok for Bt44,740 and Bt136,355 for business class. The connecting time in Dubai is one hour and a half both ways.

All fares are subject to change due to currency fluctuation and offered at limited seats.

The airline first flew to South Africa in 2006 and was forced to discontinue the service in January 2009  due to high fuel costs, poor aircraft choice, a global economic downturn, internal political problems and the company’s lack of liquidity, according to the airline’s financial report.

With the reincarntion, THAI hopes to draw passengers from Asian countries to Africa and South America using Johannesburg as the gateway through a partnership with Star Alliance member South African Airlines.

THAI president, Piyasvasti Amranand, says he is confident that the airline can build traffic on the Bangkok-Johannesburg route because there are various untapped market opportunities here in Asia.

“Johannesburg is an ideal gateway to South Africa and even services to South America. The economies of these two continents are robust. Not only Thai passengers will benefit, but also we can draw passengers from other Asian countries as well.”

In order to attract Asian passengers to South Africa through Bangkok, THAI schedules the new flights to allow convenient connections from regional flights at both ends of the route. In South Africa, it is working with SAA to provide connecting services to other points in Africa

The outbound flight departs Bangkok at 0115 and arrives in Johannesburg at 0730 on the same day. The inbound flight departs 1340 and arrives in Bangkok at 0555.

For the first six months, Mr Piyasvasti said THAI would concentrate on selling South African domestic destinations through cooperation with South African Airways, a member of Star Alliance, then expand to regional destinations before offering code-share connection to South America — Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

Currently, the airline also has interline agreements with Comair and Interair for Cape Town, Durban in South Africa, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius.

TG’s president is confident the Johannesburg route will turn a profit this time round due to using a more fuel efficient B777-200ER instead of the A340-600, previously used.

The airline is also employing a careful hedging plan for the route to enable it manage better fuel price fluctuations.

Mr Piyasvasti expects the route could breakeven in the second or third year but it will depend on reaching an average 70% cabin factor.

According to Amadeus Market Information, during 2009  about 22,600 people travelled from Thailand to Johannesburg. Singapore Airline, Emirates and Qatar Airways gained the highest market share. Hong Kong and Singapore were the biggest market suppliers in Asia with about 56,000 and 29,000 passengers respectively. Their home-base carriers operate non-stop flights to South Africa.

Important markets that THAI wants to tap are China and Japan, since none of their home-base carriers fly this long haul route.

From Beijing, there were almost 10,000 passengers, half of them using Cathay Pacific. About 4,000 passengers from Guangzhou used Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines and over half of 3,800 Japanese flying the route used Cathay Pacific.

THAI executive vice president, Pruet Boobphakam, said that competition to attract passengers from China, Japan or other countries with no non-stop flights to South Africa would be tough, “like exchanging punches in a boxing ring.” But a code-share with All Nippon Airways will help to draw some passengers to the THAI flight to Johannesburg.

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.

Pruet Boobphakam

On the code-share front, the airline has already announced it will resume services to Johannesburg, South Africa, 16 May, just days after it celebrates 50 years of flying. The service will extend to other destinations in Africa through a code-share partnership with South African Airways, its Star Alliance partner.

“We will add Argentina, Brazil and Chile in our network by October through code share agreements with SAA, but first we will cooperate on intra-African routes such as to Botswana,” THAI executive vice president, commercial, Pruet Boobphakam told TTR Weekly.

Also, THAI wishes to extend the Johannesburg service to Cape Town, but the plan has not been approved by the South African government.

“The government allows us to fly to Cape Town, but we cannot pick up passengers on the domestic sector. We are seeking approval to be able to pick up transit passengers to allow them to extend their trip to Cape Town before returning to Bangkok,” Mr Pruet explained.

Star partner, All Nippon Airways, has already signed agreements to work with THAI to establish Tokyo as the preferred North American hub for Southeast Asian travellers.

Code-share agreements are being established with ANA to US cities and THAI intends to partner with Air Canada, another Star member, to expand services to Toronto and Vancouver.

“We will able to offer a service to Hawaii, hopefully by April if the agreements are cleared in time.”

Mr Pruet confirmed THAI wants to code share with Turkish Airlines.

“Sydney-Istanbul, Auckland-Istanbul are in the pipeline. I don’t see why we cannot sell these routes. We have to grow our existing code share agreements and actively promote new code-share routes such as Cairo and Kiev.”

The airline’s CEO, Nikos Kardassis said: “South Africa’s reputation as a leading tourist and business destination and the fact that it will play host to the 2010 FIFA World Cup presents a huge opportunity for Jet Airways.”

Jet Airways will operate the Mumbai-Johannesburg route with an Airbus 330-200 aircraft, configured in two classes. It features 30 seats in business class and 190 seats in economy.

The airline’s South African service  could potentially compete with Thai Airways International’s non-stop flight from Bangkok, scheduled to start 16 May.

While Jet Airways will fly daily, THAI will fly just four times a week, but it will be a non-stop service and Thai passengers will not need to take the precaution of having an Indian visa if the connection in Mumbai fails. The connecting time on the outbound trip is long at two and half hours, but  just one and a half hours on the return journey.

Passengers from Thailand can catch the 9W’s night flight to Mumbai departing Bangkok at 2055 and arriving in Mumbai at 2340. The Johannesburg flight departs two hours and a half later at 0205 and arrives at 0735.

On the way back, the flight will depart Johannesburg at 1100, arriving in Mumbai at 2330 to connect with the Bangkok flight departing at 0110, and arriving on the following morning at 0705.

On its website, Jet Airways has already posted Bangkok-Johannesburg fares, via Mumbai, at Bt43,135, all inclusive during May. Thai Airways International has yet to announce its fare.