Thai Airways will operate an extra five flights a week to Sydney from next June which will prove beneficial to Europeans breaking their journey in the Thai capital.
That is because strong demand between Bangkok and Sydney means flights with all the carriers plying this route (namely BA, Qantas and Emirates) are heavily booked. The extra flights will make it easier to find seats at short notice.
The seat shortage from this region will get worse in 10 days' time when Austrian pulls its six times a week B777 service over the Vienna-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney stretch.
Currently Thai operates 14 flights each way between Bangkok and Sydney. From June the total will be 19 with the extra B777 services operating daily except for Monday and Friday southbound and Tuesday and Saturday northbound.
New flight TG993 will depart Bangkok at 1815 arriving the following day in Sydney at 0615. Return service TG994 leaves Sydney at 1000 to reach Bangkok at 1625 in the afternoon.
With no European Star Alliance member now serving Australia, Thai's extra flights are welcome news for Bangkok-bound passengers who have started their journeys in, say, Frankfurt or Copenhagen with carriers like Lufthansa and SAS and who want to continue Down Under with a Star member airline.
In other news, Thai has confirmed that it will transfer some domestic flights away from Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi airport to the city's former Don Muang facility (see Online News, January 18 and February 8).
The changes take effect on March 25 and see domestic services from Bangkok to Phitsanulok, Udom Thani, Ubon Ratchathani and Surat Thani now operating solely from Don Muang.
Because of international connecting passengers, Thai's flights to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Hay Yai and Krabi will continue to operate both from Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang.
Thai says that its international flights and also those of its fellow Star Alliance members will continue to operate at Suvarnabhumi. Readers worried about using the wrong airport should note that the IATA industry code for Suvarnabhumi is BKK whereas Don Muang is DMK.
For more information go to thaiairways.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
