Thai Airways passenger demand returning to normal

Thai Airways is experiencing moderate to high cabin factors as demand for air travel during the holiday season has increased, easing the carrier’s concerns about filling seats on its planes.

The country’s national airline does remain concerned, however, about post-holiday demand, given the dual problems of the worsening global economic climate and the low level of confidence that travellers overseas have in Thailand due to the recent political instability.

International passenger traffic on the airline is slowly returning after Bangkok two main airports were shut down from 26 November to 5 December by anti-government protesters. Hundreds of thousands of visitors were stranded when Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports were seized by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

During this holiday season, the international route cabin factor is over 60 per cent, which is not that much lower than the 70 per cent reported during the same period last year. The carrier has recovered most of its long-haul bookings that were suspended during the shut down at Suvarnabhumi airport.

“It [international passenger traffic] could be worse. It is much better than we feared,” said a senior executive at the airline.

Demand on domestic routes over the holidays has returned to normal levels, with a cabin factor of 75 per cent reportedly being “just as good” as it was last year at this time.

Thanks to www.bangkokpost.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.thaiair.com