Airlines to cut long-haul flights to Thailand...

[Snick]

On the other hand, I'm hearing more office girls and Uni-girls are working 'part time' to supplement their income.

[BAM]

(Snick @ Jul. 01 2008,19:20) On the other hand, I'm hearing more office girls and Uni-girls are working 'part time' to supplement their income.

Damn.... that's such a shame!  

Like when I went into that Cupidy Massage joint... all the 'side line Uni-girls' the guy tells me they are there to make a little extra cash to pay their phone bill... LOL!

[BAM]

56 minutes ago...

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices jumped beyond 141 dollars a barrel on Tuesday after the president of OPEC said there was uncertainty surrounding future investment in facilities to boost crude output.


New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, was up 1.40 dollars at 141.40 dollars a barrel at about 0820 GMT.

[Torurot]

http:\theoildrum.com is a good site for oil related material

[Guest]

So my hopes of Virgin introducing a LHR-BKK flight are looking somewhat unlikely then, their business class looks to be quite nice, and I sure ain't flying to America anytime soon just to sample it.

Having been looking to book a flight for three months or so now, I'd just advise booking way in advance, as I've watched the prices steadily rise as I've dithered to book. I ended up having to fly SAS instead of my preferred choice of KLM due to waiting too long.

[Ladyboy_Loser!]

For those who take multiple trips to LOS and will continue to do so joining the frequent flyer club of a particular Airline might be a good idea. Suck it up and fly Coach a few times, get the miles and then upgrade to the next class. As the Airline sees that you fly a lot with them they will be more open to giving you an upgrade if ask for one when you chek in for your flight. I have flown with EVA exclusively for the past seven years, I am now a Diamond card member, I have a shit load of miles in my account, they give me upgrades on at least one leg of my flight to BKK and I book economy now and use my miles to upgrade to Economy Deluxe or Elite class depending on the type of plane.

[Otho]

The middle eastern airlines get their gas for free so I don't think it'll make much difference to my life.



Actually Stogie, that's a myth. Petrol is still massively subsidised, which is why everyone drives gas guzzlers here.  But just today, an article in Business 24/7 (a Dubai based daily) had a big interview with the president of Emirates Airlines, who laid out exactly how much they pay for fuel. It works out at something like 45% of their total operating costs and is their single biggest overhead.

He said they embarked on a big cost cutting exercise in January but the oil price has gone up so much since then, they have to look to save even more money. Like not ordering another 100 A380s at the next Farnborough Air Show. Their prices have certainly shot up noticeably just since April.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Etihad announced they're carrying double the number of passengers as last year. Etihad is 100% owned by the Abu Dhabi government, and while the cost of fuel does appear as an item on the balance sheet, it's a safe bet that the govt will keep digging in their pockets and subsidising it for years yet.

They're actually much. much wealthier than neighbouring Dubai and they're very miffed that Dubai has stolen the limelight. That's why they're announcing all these mega projects like the new Guggenheim Museum, the new Louvre (yes lads, this is an insane part of the world to live in), next year's final Formula 1 race of the season and next year's World Club Football Championship.

Privately, they're cock-a-hoop about today's two announcements as they reckon they're stealing business direct from Emirates.  It will be well worth comparing the two airlines' prices when you plan your next trip!

[daveduke007]

Emirates £603 (40,000baht ) and Etihad £524 (35,000baht ) return yesterday flying out of Manchester UK at the end of October

[bodbatty]

I believe only Saudi Arabia get their fuel free, other gulf states are just heavily subsidised. Gulf Air upped the price of my next ticket by 400 quid, admittedly business class, between booking and release. Needless to say I cancelled and rebooked with Etihad - better airline and now cheaper

[Guest]

i have just booked my september trip with etihad £465.74. i have always flew with qatar air,but etihad is much cheaper

[katoeylover]

Yes qatar have really soared in the past few months

[dummy_plug]

I'm going to ask a dumb question, on these Arab airlines, are all the attendants male? Seeing as how many of the Middle East nations restrict the types of jobs available to women, I would figure the answer is yes, but just curious - sorry to be off topic.

[PigDogg]

[Road Runner]

I think they're blokes in dresses!


Grow your hair out.... bit of makeup......


RR.

[rxpharm]

(dummy_plug @ Jul. 02 2008,14:19) I'm going to ask a dumb question, on these Arab airlines, are all the attendants male? Seeing as how many of the Middle East nations restrict the types of jobs available to women, I would figure the answer is yes, but just curious - sorry to be off topic.

Actually not so dumb a question, the work restrictions apply to the National females, ex-pat females are not subject to those restrictions.

Even Saudi Arabian airlines employs ex-pat females - mostly Asian.

DP, as per RR's instructions, do that and see the world on the cheap!

In a related matter, the budget airlines are also facing the crunch and have announced cost cutting measures:

3 Airlines cut routes to save costs
By Suchat Sritama
The Nation
Published on July 2, 2008

Three low-cost airlines - Nok Air, One-Two-Go and Thai AirAsia - have cut and rescheduled flights in response to record-high jet fuel prices.

Effective yesterday, Nok Air cut three domestic routes - Bangkok-Chiang Rai, Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani and Bangkok-Krabi. It is also considering reducing its 21 flights a week to Phuket.

Affected travellers are being transferred to Thai Airways International and Thai AirAsia.

The domestic route changes followed the cancellation of its international Bangkok-Bangalore and Bangkok-Hanoi flights.

"We're losing money," an airline representative said, who declined to confirm if losses were as high as Bt1 billion as had been reported. The reports have fuelled expectations that the airline would be shut down soon.

Meanwhile, One-Two-Go has cut the number of Bangkok-Chiang Mai and Bangkok-Phuket flights from 28 per week to 21, starting yesterday. The flight frequency to Hat Yai has also been cut by half to seven, while those to Chiang Rai and Nakhon Si Thammarat are down from seven to two flights per week. The daily flight to Surat Thani is to continue.

Thai AirAsia has cancelled the weekly flight to Xiamen, China, due to lack of passengers.

Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, said operating costs had jumped from 30 per cent to 50 per cent due to spiking oil prices.

"However, we have no further plans to reduce or cut more flights," he said.

The airline planned to add more international routes from Bangkok to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, within the next two or three months. It is also studying scheduling flights to

Bali. The airline recently started flights to Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City.

Thai AirAsia has increased its flights to Phuket and Chiang

Mai. The airline expected the number of passengers to reach 4.6

million this year, a 25-per-cent growth rate.

To survive the lower passenger traffic due to higher travelling costs, the airline has approached 15 corporate clients to encourage more business travel.

To boost loyalty, the airline has launched a programme paying up to Bt1,800 to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed more than three hours.

Link to the story: 3 airlines cut routes to save costs