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THAI Seeks Alliance with 10 Asian Airlines to Counter LCC Groups
8th Jun 2016
Speaking to Bloomberg, Thai Airways International President Charamporn Jotikasthira announced plans to seek an alliance with no less than 10 Asian carriers in order to counter any groupings of its low-cost rivals like that one and also add some new destinations and routes to its network.
In an interview, Mr Charamporn pointed out that uniting the airlines in the region would do much to increase connectivity in China and India, but also some smaller markets such as Vietnam and Myanmar.
He also said that the possible alliance will mean THAI will move away from simply siphoning connecting traffic through the Thailand’s capital, which is a part of the carrier’s two-year restructuring strategy.
Mr Charamporn said:
Demand has been changing. All requests on air traffic control into Thailand have been point-to-point to secondary cities. The model that we’ve been preaching in the past is going to be different.
Future Pacts Must Complement THAI’s Role in the Star Alliance, Said Charamporn
He also said that any alliance that includes Thai Airways would have to complement its role in the Star Alliance. Adding to this, he also said that he would like to expand relationships with other partners there, including German Lufthansa.
THAI is not the only carrier in Asia to come to the conclusion that strength lies in numbers. Malaysian national carrier Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) has already moved to using Kuala Lumpur as its regional hub.
Of course, THAI’s potential alliance with 10 other airlines raises the question of how it will compete with some other alliances, particularly Value Alliance. However, that may not be a problem since the biggest alliance of LCCs groups together smaller airlines like Cebu Pacific, Scoot, Nok Scoot, Nok Air, Vanilla Air, Jeju Air, Tigerair and Tigerair Australia.
Just for comparison, Cebu Pacific (Philippines) and Scoot (Singapore) together have the same fleet as AirAsia Bhd (Malaysia) has on its own.
Last week, at the International Air Transport Association’s meeting, Thai Airways president said the plan for THAI is to remain a full-service carrier. However, he is open to codesharing “with anyone, any range”.
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