TG returns to kangaroo route

19 Oct 2015  2048 | Business & Trade Fairs

BANGKOKThai Airways International will focus on expanding operations between Australia and Europe, according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation’s recent analysis.
CAPA said THAI sees an opportunity to regain market share as other Asian airlines reduce their focus on Australia.
“Other Asia airlines are now reducing their focus on the Australia-Europe route, concluding that it is nearly impossible to compete with the Gulf carriers. But THAI’s new management team sees this as an opportunity,” the CAPA assessment said.
THAI believes it can offer an alternative to a transit stop in the Middle East, while believing Bangkok could also be a viable stopover to break the journey between Australia and Europe.
inside no 4In the past it had a much stronger role in this market competing with Qantas that used Bangkok as a transit hub alongside Singapore. However, the importance of the Bangkok transit hub diminished for the so-called kangaroo route. Singapore took the lead, but that was later lost to Dubai after Qantas and Emirates inked a partnership deal.
While Australia’s outbound market has been impacted by the depreciation of the Australian dollar overall international traffic to and from Australia continues to grow.
Over the last three years, total passenger traffic between Australia/New Zealand and Europe has increased by approximately 50%, according to data from OAG Traffic Analyser.
THAI carried only about 3% of total passengers in the Australia/New Zealand-Europe market in the 12 months ending July 2015, according to OAG Traffic Analyser.
It was the ninth largest airline in this market over the specified timeframe, behind Emirates (about 27%), Singapore Airlines (15%), Etihad (11%), Qantas (9%), Qatar Airways (7%), Cathay Pacific (6%), MAS (5%) and British Airways (4%).
“In Australia and Europe THAI has traditionally focused more on local inbound traffic to Thailand. It has always received some transit passengers, but often these have been passengers seeking a stopover in Thailand in one direction,” the centre said.
THAI believes by improving network connectivity it can attract more pure transit traffic. The airline needs more transit traffic to reduce its reliance on the local market and boost yields, particularly if it succeeds at attracting more premium transit traffic in markets such as Australia-Europe.
THAI also sees opportunities to increase connecting traffic from Australia and Europe to regional destinations in Asia.
Regional connections, particularly to secondary cities, are generally higher yielding and do not face competition from Gulf carriers, which typically only serve the main destinations, it said.
But competition in the regional connecting markets has also been intensifying as MAS and SIA have been increasing their focus on such markets. Southeast Asian LCC groups are also starting to aggressively pursue more transit traffic between Australia and Asia.
The carrier currently operates 38 weekly flights to Australia including 14 to Melbourne, 10 to Sydney, and seven each to Brisbane and Perth.

sourced:ttrweekly.com 

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