At Air France-KLM, bold local strokes

At Air France-KLM, bold local strokes

Nonstop to Paris up to five times a week

Air France-KLM, the Franco-Dutch airline group, is consolidating its position in the Thailand-Europe market as it moves to revive profitability in the sector next year.

Herve´ Moulin, general manager for Thailand and Indochina, noted Air France will introduce a Thai-language website next month as it continues to focus on Thais.

The group has taken several steps to strengthen its operations in Thailand and to better compete with market leaders like Thai Airways International and Dubai-based Emirates, according to Herve{aac} Moulin, general manager for Thailand and Indochina.

The boldest move is a decision to ramp up Air France's non-stop Bangkok-Paris route to five flights a week from three, starting Oct 28.

KLM, meanwhile, will maintain its non-stop daily Bangkok-Amsterdam flights in the six-month winter programme beginning Oct 28, the French executive told the Bangkok Post.

Both airlines will continue to deploy long-haul wide-body jets of the Boeing 777-300 and 777-200 series on their Thailand-Europe service.

Those jetliners are configured with 14 seats in business, 32 in premium economy and 420 in economy.

To appeal to Thai travellers, the group will make a Thai-language website available in the next month, complementing the introduction of a Thai-language Facebook page some six months ago.

For the whole of this month, Air France, whose presence in Thailand dates back 58 years, is offering discounted fares on its Europe-bound flights, with an all-inclusive round-trip fare for economy class between Bangkok and Paris starting at 28,230 baht.

The launch of the promotional fares is aimed at ensuring the highest occupancy in economy class between Oct 1 and Jan 31 _ the restricted travel period when such discount tickets can be used.

At the same time, the group has also expanded its code-share arrangement with Bangkok Airways to cover Yangon and Vientiane, the latest port of call that the Thai regional carrier will begin serving from Nov 30.

Air France-KLM is also prepared to earmark some 20% more budget for advertising online and in newspapers, said Mr Moulin.

While the group did not make a profit on Thailand operations last year, it is on course to break even this year and achieve profitability next year.

Mr Moulin said the airline group enjoys a relatively high load factor, filling an average of 85% of the seats on Thailand-Europe flights.

Due to the unstable economic environment, Air France-KLM is keeping its global capacity for the winter programme at the same level as last year's, with a 0.5% rise in the long-haul segment and a 0.5% decrease in medium-haul service.

As part of the initiative to strengthen its business, the group earlier this month struck an agreement with Etihad Airways, the third-biggest Gulf carrier, and its German-affiliated carrier.

Based around code-shares that will allow the companies to sell tickets on each other's flights beyond Paris, Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi, the pact is intended to be the first phase of a much larger strategic partnership, Etihad said in a release.

Air France is undergoing a broad restructuring plan dubbed Transform 2015, aiming at cost savings of 2 billion (79.9 billion baht) over the next three years and a 20% increase in productivity at Air France and KLM, which merged in 2004.

Air France-KLM launched its cost-saving programme after posting a loss of 809 million in 2011 and a first-quarter loss of 368 million this year.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT