BANGKOK, March 16 (TNA) — The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) forces Thai Airways International to cut its flights by 30% resulting in the cancellation of 2,100-2,500 flights a month.
The management of the national airline have admitted that it cancelled flights to risk countries including South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Italy, Iran and Macau. The new virus also affected its European flights that formed a main source of its revenue.
The 30% flight reduction has taken place since January. The airline stopped operation at 11 main destinations and is likely to suspend about 70 more flights a day. The service suspension will be expanded next month because the Covid-19 situation remains severe. Normally it would be a high season for European routes for the Easter holiday with the usual occupancy rate of 80%.
Existing flights recorded their occupancy rates of less than 50%. The national airline expects its revenue to be halved this year from 180-200 billion baht.
Chula Sukmanop, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, said that since January airlines had cancelled about 9,700 flights in Thailand. He predicted passengers of international flights would reduce in number by 8.7% this year, from 88 million last year to 81 million. (TNA)
