WOW !!  Who would have ever thunk it...

From today's Internet Bangkok Post


Airline loses customers after moving airports
By Boonsong Kositchotethana

Thai Airways International's decision to move a large part of its domestic services to the old Don Muang airport has resulted in a loss of tens of thousands of passengers who require connecting flights.

The flag carrier could have lost as many as 70,000 foreign travellers, who were transferring from international flights to domestic destinations or travelling from domestic routes to overseas, since THAI started operating through the 93-year-old airport on March 25, according to insiders.

These travellers have turned to other carriers due to the hassle and long wait in connecting with international flights - all of which run through Suvarnabhumi Airport, a time-consuming 27 km away.

Many of these passengers who may travel on THAI flights from abroad have instead used the domestic services of Bangkok Airways and the budget carrier Thai AirAsia, which have continued to operate all flights through Suvarnabhumi.

THAI operates 31 domestic flights a day through Don Muang, offering more than 8,000 seats a day, while retaining 11 flights a day at the new airport.

THAI is one of the three local airlines that opted to offer domestic flights through the old airport after the government earlier this year decided, following several policy flip-flops, to reopen the old airport for non-connecting domestic services to reduce congestion at Suvarnabhumi.

The other two players at Don Muang are THAI's budget subsidiary Nok Airlines and the local no-frills airline One-Two-Go, both of which did not experience similar problems to THAI.The response from connecting passengers has caught the national carrier's management off-guard as they believed that domestic flights allocated at Suvarnabhumi should deal with the connection issue for foreign travellers.

The THAI domestic flights retained at Suvarnabhumi, which the airline anticipated to require connections to international destinations, are those from popular tourist spots such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Krabi.

The business loss prompted THAI's board to discuss the issue at its Monday meeting. No easy solution is seen though some executives said the airline may be compelled to cut some flights at Don Muang and return them to Suvarnabhumi.

THAI may be reluctant revert to Suvarnabhumi because it spearheaded the campaign to reopen the old airport.

THAI has spent about 20 million baht to re-establish its presence over at Don Muang.

Industry analysts said THAI's loss of connecting passengers reflects a major flaw in operating dual airports within close proximity.

The use of two airports has increased the flight transfer time in Bangkok from between two and three hours to between five and seven hours.

Critics said THAI may have underestimated the impact of passenger connectivity to its business as statistics show that there are always passengers on every THAI domestic flight who need to transfer to international flights.

THAI shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 46.50 baht, down 25 satang, in trade worth 51.36 million baht.

Quote:Airline loses customers after moving airports

Thai Airways International's decision to move a large part of its domestic services to the old Don Muang airport has resulted in a loss of tens of thousands of passengers who require connecting flights.

That doesn't surprise me.

Quote:Critics said THAI may have underestimated the impact of passenger connectivity to its business as statistics show that there are always passengers on every THAI domestic flight who need to transfer to international flights.

Short Sightedness

Short sightedness  == Thai Thinking == same=same

But this is a way of life over here....There is absolutly no thinking things thru whether it be 5 seconds, 5 minutes, 5 days, or more into the future..... there is only right this moment...

We as westerners see this happening a hundred times a day here in Thailand.... all one needs to do is sit thru one change of cycle of a Red light.......one side jets away before the green, and the other flying thru within the first few seconds of the red....never thinking what could happen...

There is no "consideration of others" built into the Thai thought or mental process from the moment of birth....

Watch the [cannot say queneing] entry for a bus or train

Watch the the group at the white line waiting for a redlight

Listen in the morning..... when one Thai is awake ,,,,, they all must be awake

This fosters a lack of the sense of responsibility....

Come across an accident seen...... many will look at a person bleeding to death and stand around..... very few will try and help or assist....

There is a concept here for the good of the one rather than the good of the whole......The good of the whole in Thailand comes out only when the good of oneself is on top and has the most to gain ...

This is most evident in sports..... Thai's cannot play as a team....there is no concept of team as in two playing together as a team have the power of three....

This manifests itself, most obviously, in sports as Thailand has no team that is world class in any sport..... yet they do have individual , solo, singular stars as is evidenced in boxing, tennis, snooker.....  but when it comes to playing as a team , it fails....

But yet this is not right or wrong..... it is what is here and we choose to bring our different concept here and live....  If we cannot live with it, then we owe it to ourselves to leave....

So it is not confusing that now Thai Airways  is back to DM Airport...and a lot of individuals can make a lot of money redoing that which was already done.....

The Thai way..... no one will admit doing wrong..... that would be loosing face..... rather make an excuse for why it is not "MY" fault....

We either learn to live with it or we owe it to ourselves to leave...

OMHO