SET-listed Bangkok Airways (BA) plans to add four more international carriers to its extensive code-sharing partnership network.
The full-service carrier is in talks with India's Jet Airways, Taiwan's China Airlines, Seoul-based Korean Air and Kazakhstan's Air Astana.
Peter Wiesner, senior vice-president for network management, revealed the names ahead of today's commencement of a two-way code-sharing agreement with a Indonesia.
Garuda is the latest in Bangkok Airways's code-sharing pool, which started in 2006 and now numbers 15 including Etihad Airways, SilkAir, Malaysia Airlines, Air France, KLM, EVA Air, Qantas and Aeroflot.
Code-sharing has been an essential tool for Bangkok Airways to feed international passengers from foreign carrier partners into its routes in Thailand and to neighbouring countries.
The airline continues to widen its these partnerships with international airlines rather than expanding its own network.
"Code-sharing partnerships make commercial sense for us, as they're profitable,'' Mr Wiesner said.
The Swiss executive said despite the relatively large number of code-sharing partners, there was no set limit on the coalition's size. "As long as the deals are mutually beneficial, the sky's the limit," he said.
He said Bangkok Airways expected to finalise code-sharing accords with Jet Airways and China Airlines by the end of next month or early February, followed by Korean Air in March.
The new partnership with Garuda will afford passengers of the Indonesian airline a smooth transit in Bangkok to connect to Thailand's top holiday destinations and other regional favourites.
These include Koh Samui, Lampang, Phuket, Udon Thani, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phnom Penh, Luang Prabang and Dhaka.
Conversely, Bangkok Airways passengers can make reservations on Garuda Indonesia's network, which includes Bangkok-Jakarta, Singapore-Jakarta, Jakarta-Denpasar on Bali, Jakarta-Yogyakarta, Jakarta- Semarang, Jakarta-Surabaya and Jakarta-Ujung Pandang.
Erik Meijer, Garuda's executive vice-president for sales and marketing, said the partnership with Bangkok Airways would extend Garuda's network even farther into Southeast Asia.
"Thailand is an important market for Indonesia, and through this partnership we can offer more travel options for the increasing number of passengers travelling between the two countries," he said.
BA shares closed Friday on the SET at 22.20 baht, down 20 satang, in trade worth 195 million baht.