British Airways isn’t heading back to Bangkok until at least next year. Tour operators were hoping the British flagship carrier would be adding regular flights again between Heathrow and Bangkok in time for Thailand’s high season, just when the winter kicks in in the UK.
British Airways was originally set to resume flights in November this year but has now reviewed this decision and made no commitment to restarting services between Heathrow and Suvarnabhumi.
BA says that Bangkok, and Thailand, “is not top of BA’s list for resumption, as it is predominantly low-yield tourist traffic”.
(Low-yield traffic are passengers who are predominantly chasing the lowest fares and spend the least per seat on an aircraft.)
They also cited the “stiff price competition from the Middle East carriers – Qatar, Emirates and Etihad” – who are already flying either daily or multiple fleets per week.
But BA is selling Bangkok flights with a OneWorld partner, with connections in Doha using Qatar Airways.
“We regularly keep our extensive global network under review, and we’ve taken the decision to extend the suspension of our Bangkok service.”
Meanwhile, Thailand will lose another UK connection in August. Budget airline Scoot, which began flying Gatwick-Bangkok-Singapore in March, will suspend services on August 21., But the Singapore-based budget airline says they are planning to return to regular UK – Thailand flights at the end of October. But these flights have not been confirmed at this time and are not currently available for bookings.
Only Thai Airways and Taiwan’s EVA Air offering non-stop services between Bangkok and London’s Heathrow.
SOURCE: TTG Media