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Thai Air Asia has temporarily suspended flights on all of their domestic routes from 10th July to 31st July 2021. They plan to resume operations from 1st August 2021.

Air Asia update

Nok Air announcement

Thai AirAsia suspends local flights from July 12-31

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... july-12-31

Airlines nearing brink of collapse
Over 20,000 employees from seven airlines are on the verge of losing their jobs if the ban imposed on domestic flights is prolonged to three months without help from the long-awaited 5-billion-baht soft loan from the government, according to the Airlines Association of Thailand (AAT).

AAT president, Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, said the aviation industry in Thailand is facing a critical downturn since the pandemic last year with passenger numbers decreasing by 64.7% in 2020. However, the current situation is ravaging the cash flow of all airlines as since Wednesday they are unable to serve domestic flights from and to dark red zones.

"We've been waiting for a soft loan for 478 days despite the Prime Minister's commitment to help us on Aug 28, 2020. Every airline has faced incurring losses since the borders shut down early last year. If we cannot get help within a month, more of us may have to downsize or be unable to keep the business alive anymore," he said.

The ban imposed in Bangkok -- the country's aviation hub -- means seven airlines have had to ground 170 airplanes without a new flow of income but still have to bear the monthly cost of payroll of around 900 million baht as in the past 17 months, said Santisuk Klongchaiya, chief executive of Thai AirAsia.

He said the combined cost of the seven airlines has been over 15 billion baht in the past 17 months.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/21 ... f-collapse

This will pretty much spell the end of cheap regional flights - it has put the industry back 20 years.

Domestic airlines allowed full flights
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's (CCSA) operation centre has agreed to lift capacity limits on domestic flights, allowing airlines to take full flight bookings, according to the Public Health Ministry.

The number of passengers was previously limited to 75% of the full capacity.

Dr Chawetsan Namwat, director for emergency health hazards and diseases, said that while airlines are allowed to book to full capacity he stressed other Covid-19 prevention measures remain intact.

These measures include a ban on in-flight drinking and eating, the need for a good ventilation system and proper social distancing on boarding and leaving aircraft, he said.

Dr Chawetsan said that passengers are required to be fully vaccinated or have negative Covid-19 test results 72 hours before boarding while urging those who are ill to avoid travelling.

He said passengers will be required to undergo Covid-19 screening.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/21 ... ll-flights

Thai AirAsia lays off staff amid aviation woes

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/22 ... ation-woes

Thai AirAsia (TAA) has announced mass layoffs and extended furloughs after struggling with the impact of the pandemic, despite the country's reopening on Nov 1.

Tassapon Bijleveld, executive chairman of Asia Aviation (AAV), the largest shareholder of TAA, made the announcement to TAA's employees on Wednesday, indicating that the real situation in terms of the aviation outlook remains unstable, prompting the company to reduce its fleet size next year and consequently reduce its workforce to maintain financial stability over the long run.

"Even though we've negotiated with suppliers and banks to help offload aircraft leasing costs, and we may get additional liquidity after restructuring this month, our balance sheet cannot be strong enough if those expenses still run. We have to permanently cut the fleet for at least two years or until international and domestic flights fully recover," Mr Tassapon said at the internal meeting.

TAA announced on Monday that its fleet size would be cut from 60 to 54 as revenue from international routes is still limited due to different reopening policies from country to country.

Mr Tassapon added that the airline had already bottomed out in the third quarter, and it estimated that the domestic market should fully recover by mid-2022, while international flights might gradually return to 20-30% of 2019 levels. The best-case scenario for international routes is that TAA resumes 50% of pre-pandemic scheduled flights by the end of next year.

"It's hurtful to take such a decision, but it's based on reality which we cannot answer as to when the situation will improve. We have to wait until revenue from international routes comes back and that will depend on the entry regulations of Thailand and overseas destinations," said Mr Tassapon.

According to the announcement, TAA is deciding on the number of layoffs this week and will announce the list of employees to be laid off by next week. The company is also launching an early retirement programme for those who are willing to leave.

TAA and six other airlines in the country submitted a proposal to the government in April 2020, asking for soft loans to help sustain jobs for over 20,000 employees following the impact of the first nationwide lockdown in the second quarter of that year.

They had to wait until the third quarter of this year to get a response from the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (Exim Bank), which has the duty to look after those airlines. However, the financial support each airline receives is different, while a few airlines, including TAA, still haven't received assistance.

Mr Tassapon said that due to the volatile situation, TAA has to maintain furloughs and pay cuts but will assess the situation every two months and gradually remove the cuts when the financial situation improves.

In its third-quarter financial results, TAA reported total revenue of 457 million baht and a net loss of 2.09 billion baht. The restructuring plan set to be proposed to shareholders at a meeting on Nov 26 is expected to generate additional funds of 14 billion baht from new investors.

British Airways cancels over 2,000 flights including Bangkok

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism ... ng-bangkok

In the face of the spread of Covid-19 as infections surge in the UK, British Airways have suspended all their flights travelling to Bangkok until October of next year. Rumours began circulating about the possible cancellation earlier this week with popular travel sites speculating about the major airline suspending the route. Many passengers told stories of receiving cancellation notices from British Airways and the rumours were confirmed by a spokesperson for the airline who talked about refunds.

“We apologise to customers whose travel plans are disrupted. Where a customer’s flight is cancelled, we always contact them to offer options including a full refund. Customers who are unable to travel, or choose not to, can also continue to change their flights or request a voucher for future use as part of our Book with Confidence policy, which has been available since the beginning of the pandemic.”

Aside from refunding, the airline is offering to reaccommodate passengers on cancelled flights on Qatar Airways flights from London to Doha to Bangkok instead, though the agreement between airlines is reported to be confirmed only until the end of March.

The cancellations come as many people are unsure of their travel plans and how they will be affected by the Omicron variant. Many people are cancelling their holidays and travel plans, or postponing them to later next year when hopefully the pandemic will be better understood and more under control.

With more travel hesitancy, passenger load was down and the reduction in flight demand caused British Airways to decide to pull the plug on thousands of scheduled flights. Data suggests that a total of 2,144 flights were wiped from the British Airways schedule, including long-haul international flights as well as short-haul and domestic flights.

British Airways suggested any person with a trip scheduled to check their flight status on the BA website to reconfirm whether or not they’ve been cancelled. Affected passengers with flights scheduled before August 31 will be able to get a travel voucher that can be redeemed for over one year, until September 30 of 2023.

Vietjet to resume flights between Vietnam and Thailand
To further expand its international operation, Vietjet will relaunch the services linking Ho Chi Minh City with Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok starting 21 January. The airline will operate two weekly round trips on every Friday and Saturday between Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand’s largest aviation hub.

https://asianaviation.com/vietjet-to-re ... -thailand/

Passengers have waited hours in massive queues at Sydney airport, with some even missing flights after lengthy delays.

With the first school term ending on Friday, many NSW residents opted for an early cut as thousands took off early to spend the Easter break interstate or overseas.

It’s the first major holiday period since Australia reopened its borders.

But many spent the first part of their anticipated break stuck in queues variously described as “insane” and “chaotic” late on Thursday and early Friday.

In an astonishing response to the chaos, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce put the blame on “not match fit” travellers.

“I went through the airport on Wednesday and people forget they need to take out their laptops and they need to take out their aerosols,” Mr Joyce said at a press conference.

“That is taking longer to get through the queue.”

He added that COVID close-contact rules had led to a “high level” of staff absenteeism.

“Some days we come in and we have nearly 50 per cent absenteeism,” he said.

Hmm. Maybe we will different check-ins for inexperienced passengers