Bangkok better than Dubai??

[malpensa26]

Thai Air's flights to Islamabad finding ready customers




n Phoowadon Duangmee
The Nation

Thai Airways’ new flights between Bangkok and Islamabad are “low profile but high profit”, says its general manager for Pakistan, Kittiphong Sansomboon.
“Before we introduced the route in November, people were wondering where we’d get the passengers to fill the planes, but over the past three months the cabin factor – the number of passenger – has grown fast, with more than 90 per cent inbound and outbound. We’re now talking about increasing the number of flights.”
Thai Air currently flies twice weekly, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Islamabad is its third destination in Pakistan after southern Karachi and central Lahore.
The flights from Bangkok, Kittiphong says, carry a mix of business and casual travellers. Because of the earthquake and, to a lesser extent, the war on terror, Islamabad has become a hub for United Nations and non-governmental agencies. Expatriates continually fly to and fro between work and holiday breaks.
“Thai Airways received a very good response from the expatriates and the diplomatic corps when we offered direct flights between Islamabad and Bangkok,” says Sher Ali Khan, the airline’s sales manager in charge of the Islamabad market.
“These people used to fly to Dubai and took connecting flights from there. They no longer have to do that, since Thai Airways is offering Bangkok as a much better gateway and a more interesting destination.”
More than 70 per cent of the passengers flying from Islamabad prefer Bangkok, the airline has found, thanks in part to the ease of finding connecting flights to other cities.
“The flight from Islamabad arrives in Bangkok at 7.30am, while the return flight arrives Islamabad at 10.45pm,” says Kittiphong. “With this comfortable schedule, the transit flights to other cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are made easily.”
Thai Airways is promoting Pakistan’s capital as the gateway to the ancient civilisations of Gandhara and Taxila, which were famous as centres of Buddhist studies in the sixth century BC. Taxila is now a Unesco World Heritage site, where the past mingles with the present.
“Taxila has must-see archaeological sites and early Buddha images,” says Kittiphong. “It’s a pilgrimage destination for Buddhists from Taiwan, Japan and Thailand. We’ll soon be adding it to our Royal Orchid Holidays programme.”
Islamabad is also a prime launching pad for excursions into the natural beauties of the north, in places like Swat and Hunza, and to the old Silk Road marketplaces like Peshawar.
Thai Airways operates 11 weekly flights between Bangkok and the three Pakistani cities.
It began flying to Karachi in 1976, and was the only international airline that didn’t cancel scheduled flights to Pakistan after the 9/11 attack.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/explore ... 01502.html

[malpensa26]

Do i see a thai 777 in future at ISB???

[AP-BGL]

There isn't even an A330 of Thai Airways operated in Lahore where pax load is quite good and they have I think 3-4 flights (or even more) a week.

[AirBlue]

i think they would continue on the A306's till they get high yield and class in pax. in order to fly a 3-4 weekly B777. Maybe they dont have the plane available to do the route ?

[behramjee]

ISB has indeed done v well for TG BUT you wont see a B 777 flying that route as TGs B 772 seat 358 pax in 2 classes and 415 for the B 773.

When the AB6s do get phased out totally by end of next year, all currently flown AB6 routes will be replaced by the A 333s.

TG has indeed captured a unique niche market in ISB and are minting big time $$$ doing so. This route is definitely going 3 weekly as soon as an AB6 frees up permitting the additional flight.

[B777240ER]

There isn't even an A330 of Thai Airways operated in Lahore where pax load is quite good and they have I think 3-4 flights (or even more) a week.

Lahore sees a daily A300.

[queerpakistani]

It began flying to Karachi in 1976, and was the only international airline that didn’t cancel scheduled flights to Pakistan after the 9/11 attack.

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this is not ture. i did my RTW (ROUND THE WORLD) with start allinace from august 2001. I was scheduled to fly from BKK -KHI-MCT . and they did STOP FLYING to karachi. after lot of hassle in their office in Sydney and Saigon, i was rerouted (invountarily) to karachi via Dubai (on EK). Thai sales staff wanted we to buy a separate ticket to travel to karachi on PIA or EK. cheers.[/quote]

[sadiqhassan]

Did CX / BA cancel their flights to PK after 9/11?

Cheers

[AirBlue]

they are still flying .... but i think that BA had paused for a while. ...

[behramjee]

yes BA stopped for about 3 years 2001-04 flying to PAK due to 9/11 etc.