ID :
118128
Thu, 04/22/2010 - 18:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/118128
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THAI confident to operate all routes to and from Europe Thursday
BANGKOK, April 22 (TNA) – Thai Airways International (THAI) president on Thursday said THAI has finally resumed almost of its flight operations with the exception of Germany’s Munich Airport, which he believed would be open to operate on Thursday, following the six-day disruption by volcanic ash from Iceland to air operations in Europe and the North Atlantic.
THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand said the priority now was to fly all its stranded passengers to their destinations.
The airline plans to provide special charter flights to pick up passengers waiting to return to Thailand. He said that now a charter flight was already for service at London’s Heathrow airport.
The president admitted that the national carrier now faces problems concerning landing permissions for charter flights to Europe’s various airports. One difficulty is receiving permissions with the airports for added THAI flights. For the second concern, Mr Piyasvasti said as all the aircraft are fully used according to the airline's normal flight operations, arranging special flights to Europe is impacting the number of flights serving destinations in other continents.
However, he affirmed the ability to tackle both problems, while ensuring the return to Thailand of all stranded passengers at European airports as quickly as possible.
As for the airline’s income, he said, THAI is currently losing around Bt100 million per day for the 6-day halt in flying in and out of Europe due to the volcanic disruption. However, the exact amount of lost revenue would be again estimated as there is also other costs involved such as customer accommodation which the carrier offered to stranded passengers and other spending.
Mr Piyasvasti said there are some 30,000 stranded THAI passengers worldwide affected by the European airline halt, while there are about 2,000 passengers waiting to leave European airports and around 15,000 to leave Thailand for the continent. (TNA)
THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand said the priority now was to fly all its stranded passengers to their destinations.
The airline plans to provide special charter flights to pick up passengers waiting to return to Thailand. He said that now a charter flight was already for service at London’s Heathrow airport.
The president admitted that the national carrier now faces problems concerning landing permissions for charter flights to Europe’s various airports. One difficulty is receiving permissions with the airports for added THAI flights. For the second concern, Mr Piyasvasti said as all the aircraft are fully used according to the airline's normal flight operations, arranging special flights to Europe is impacting the number of flights serving destinations in other continents.
However, he affirmed the ability to tackle both problems, while ensuring the return to Thailand of all stranded passengers at European airports as quickly as possible.
As for the airline’s income, he said, THAI is currently losing around Bt100 million per day for the 6-day halt in flying in and out of Europe due to the volcanic disruption. However, the exact amount of lost revenue would be again estimated as there is also other costs involved such as customer accommodation which the carrier offered to stranded passengers and other spending.
Mr Piyasvasti said there are some 30,000 stranded THAI passengers worldwide affected by the European airline halt, while there are about 2,000 passengers waiting to leave European airports and around 15,000 to leave Thailand for the continent. (TNA)
