Inauguration of Thai flights in Brussels

[sn26567]

This morning I have been invited to attend the inauguration of the Thai Airways route between Bangkok and Brussels.

It started with a breakfast at the Brussels Airport Sheraton Hotel to get acquainted with the Thai Airways people and other attendants (A Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport; J Van der Cruysse, spokesman of Brussels Airport; G Sciot, VP of Brussels Airlines; B van Outryve, spokesman of Thomas Cook Belgium, etc.).

Afterwards the President of Thai Airways, Mr Piyasvasti Amranand, made a presentation in which he explained the current situation of his airline.

Press conference of the President of Thai Airways

2011 is a year of high oil prices, which affect airlines in an important way. Thai is responding to that challenge by offering a product of high quality.

Thai chose to come back to Brussels because it is the heart and the capital of Europe. Furthermore, transfers are much easier in Brussels than in Heathrow or in Frankfurt.

Due to aggressive pricing by competitors, the market share of Thai in Bangkok has decreased from 44% to 33% in the last ten years. This decrease is also observed in domestic markets. It compelled Thai to adapt quickly to new conditions. This is done by three types of measures:

• New destinations, essentially in Asia, served mainly by a new airline "Thai Smile Air" with lower costs (but not an LCC; they call it Premium Light)
• Renewal of the fleet to use less fuel. The current average age is 11.7 years. Thai will go from the current 85 aircraft to 105 in 2017 by adding A330s for medium-haul and B777s for long-haul, while retiring older aircraft like the A300s. Later they will introduce the A350 and the A380.
• Retrofitting the current fleet, e.g. the B747-400 with new AVODs in all 3 classes.

Thai is experiencing a good growth in Asia, but Europe is weak. To improve the European traffic, Thai intends to offer direct flights to Phuket, like those that have just started from Copenhagen.[/i]

The President then took a few questions, before everybody went to the departure hall for the official inauguration.

Brussels Airport welcomes Thai

Amidst champagne and soft drinks, and Thai delicacies, there were very short speeches by Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels airport (who welcomed Thai at Brussels) and again Piyasvasti Amranand, President of Thai Airways.

Thai delicacies

Speech of Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport

The authorities then cut the inaugural cake that had the shape of the orchid which serves as Thai emblem.

The inauguration cake

Cutting the cake

A nice surprise was the arrival of the candidates for the Miss Belgium beauty pageant. They were taking the first Thai flight to Bangkok (and further to Chiang Mai) in order to prepare themselves for the competition and they were happy to be photographed together with the authorities.

The candidates for Miss Belgium surrounding authorities

Some of the Miss Belgium candidates

Before the actual boarding, a last ceremony took place: the cutting of the ribbon. Again the same authorities, joined this time by the crew (with the stewardesses in bright national dresses), went to work.

The inauguration ribbon

Orchids, the flowers of Thailand

Thai cabin crew

Thai cockpit crew

Thai cabin crew

The inauguration was over. The passengers, among which several journalists invited by the airline and the Thai tourist office, could board the plane and depart to Thailand.

The Thai B777 at the gate

Boarding...

Text and pictures: copyright André Orban

[capetown]

Nice to read this - the delicacies looked great, albeit with a Belgian touch as well (witlof / belgian endives?). What does it take to get invited to these kind of ceremonies ?
I hope they'll do well ex-Bru, and that they are here to stay.

[Established02]

HS-TJW

Night photography remains a challenge.

[regi]

I was invited too but had more important things to do - which I really could not postpone.
This really eats my heart out.

We wish TG all the best.

[sn26567]

What does it take to get invited to these kind of ceremonies ?

To be a member of the Luchtzak team and to know the right people...

I have just added some more pictures in my report. I had difficulties copying them from my new Samsung Galaxy Sii (which I used after the battery of my regular camera went dead...)

[luchtzak]

Nice article, nice pictures André! Thanks for sharing

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Thank you very much... I was delighted by the report, the Thai aircraft... and of course the belgian beauties!
Do they codeshare with SN?

[Airbus A330]

A wonderful report, André !

Do they codeshare with SN?

Strange but they don't codeshare...

[chineseboy]

Don't they had a watersalute?

[sn26567]

Do they codeshare with SN?

I had a small chat with the president of Thai and I asked him the question whether TG would codeshare with SN, both being members of the Star Alliance. I suggested thet the codeshare could be not only on the BKK-BRU flights, but also on connections at both ends.

The answer was evasive and diplomatic: "This should be discussed", meaning either that it might have been discussed without coming to a conclusion, or it is planned, or nothing has been done yet, or even TG wants to keep the route for itself...

[sergioboeing]

Very nice report André :thumbup:
By the way, Thai has just made his return to BRU, does anyone know what year the Thai came last time?

Best regards,
Sergioboeing

[Airbus A330]

By the way, Thai has just made his return to BRU, does anyone know what year the Thai came last time?

In 1997 if I'm not mistaken.

[BrightCedars]

Really a nice thing to have this direct Brussels-Bangkok flight back on the map!

I remember admiring the Thai MD-11ER at the time it was flying here, although at that time I was more often travelling on the Singapore Megatop (Boeing 747-400), also in and out of Brussels. Thai was flying twice a week in codeshare with Sabena and that went up to 4-5 weekly at one point.

After Thai left and when the new airport was inaugurated we had Malaysia serving us for a while and then they and Singapore vanished. I keep hoping Singapore will return with the B787 in the future!

[Wohowbagger]

Do they codeshare with SN?

I just read this piece from viewtopic.php?f=7&t=46153:

"The carrier is trying to negotiate slots for New York—either Newark or JFK—at the IATA slot conference in Singapore."
"TG operates the new 3X-weekly Boeing 777-220ER service from Nov. 17. TG and SN are negotiating a codeshare agreement on the route and several points beyond."

Source: http://atwonline.com/airline-finance-da ... -plus-1117

so not yet seems to be the right answer here

[sdbelgium]

Don't they had a watersalute?

Indeed, they received a water salute upon departure.

[regi]

What does it take to get invited to these kind of ceremonies ?

well yes, as our other member said: "have the right connections."
But with full respect: I am active in a kind of business where I could attend similar receptions several times a week - during working hours. It is all nice and great, but it hardly brings any bread on the table.
So I have to filter those receptions - meetings in Europe and beyond.
Still, I wanted to be there, but I couldn't.

[chineseboy]

How's the loadfactor in the following days, weeks of TG? As from BKK-BRU and vice versa?
Was there any ceremony in BKK airport when the first flight departed to Brussels?

[airbuske]

How's the loadfactor in the following days, weeks of TG? As from BKK-BRU and vice versa?
Was there any ceremony in BKK airport when the first flight departed to Brussels?

First flight had a LF of +- 92 % 2 seats left in C and 20 in Y

[andorra-airport]

Thats not bad for a first flight! But I guess in the future it will be around 75%?

[tolipanebas]

Loadfactor on a first flight doesn't mean a thing because such a flight is propped up with invited pax... what is interesting to see is the loadfactor after lets say a week or 2 so.

Anyway, let's hope this flight becomes a success, so that its frequencies will be upped soon: a codeshare with SN to several destinations beyond both BRU and BKK could definitely help turn it into a daily flight soon, something which is needed if TG wants to attract the much needed high yield pax.