Thai Airways International (THAI) has begun to tackle one of its weaknesses -- weak revenue from its airline partners.
The beleaguered flag carrier aims to raise revenue from code-share and inter-line partners to account for 25% of its annual revenue from merely 5% now.
THAI president Charamporn Jotikasthira is frustrated over the 56-year-old airline's failure to capture income from cooperation with airline partners as others do to drive profit.
THAI's revenue last year was 193 billion baht, down from 204 billion the previous year.
During a panel discussion at the International Air Transport Association symposium in Dublin recently, Mr Charamporn said THAI was open to inter-line agreements and code-sharing "with anyone, any range".
He told the Bangkok Post that in Dublin he discussed the issue of strengthening code-share partnership with leaders of airlines in the Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance of which THAI was a founding member.
The chief executives of Lufthansa, SAS and EVA were among those he sought to beef up cooperation.
Many airlines, notably Bangkok Airways, have significantly benefited from code-share partnerships that allowed their networks to be fed by passengers from partner airlines.
Bangkok Airways has used the strategy to boost its traffic rather than pursue network expansion to reach new source markets as other carriers have done.
The airline's 21 code-share partners are expected to bring in nearly a third of its 5.8 million passengers projected for this year.
THAI, which is much larger in all respects than 48-year-old Bangkok Airways, has only a few more code-share partners than Bangkok Airways including its subsidiary THAI Smile.
Mr Charamporn expects THAI's revenue this year to remain at last year's level. Its first-quarter operating revenue was 50.2 billion baht, down 2.7% year-on-year.
He believes THAI is on track for recovery after a net profit of 6 billion baht in the first quarter, thanks to cost-cutting measures and lower fuel costs.
The airline suffered a combined loss of just over 40 billion baht in the three years to 2015.