Airlines slash ticket prices
published : 25 Feb 2020 at 09:43
writer: Gary Boyle
Covid-19 is expected to affect Thai tourism for more than six months, triggering airlines to slash ticket prices, while Nok Air and Nokscoot cut pilots and cabin crew to save cost.
Thai Airways International (THAI) is offering discounts such as free domestic tickets to international tourists. Low-cost carriers plan to focus on domestic travel as there is a limited number of outbound choices free from the virus.
Thai AirAsia is providing 100-baht discounts for any domestic routes within a designated period, while Nok Air is offering one-way ticket prices for domestic routes starting from 680 baht this month. Vietjet Air has marked down all routes across Thailand by 50%.
As the outbreak spreads to more countries, Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) believes the impact will last longer than six months, and the losses will be larger than the TAT's projection of 250 billion baht.
NokScoot airline issued a statement that 11 pilots and 36 cabin crew were told to leave the company, while Nok Air axed four pilots.
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Vocabulary
- axed: sacked; removed from a job - ถูกปลดออกจากตำแหน่ง
- cabin crew: the people whose job is to take care of passengers on a plan - พนักงานภายในเครื่องบิน, ลูกเรือ
- designated: given; chosen for something - ที่ได้รับการแต่งตั้ง
- domestic: inside the country being talked about - ภายในประเทศ
- impact (noun): an effect or influence - ผลกระทบ
- outbound (adj): travelling towards a particular point, particularly away from a city, country, etc. - ขาออก (opposite of inbound ขาเข้า)
- outbreak: the sudden start of a disease - การระบาดของโรค
- period: a particular length of time - ระยะเวลา
- pilot: a person who operates the controls of an aircraft, especially as a job - นักบิน
- virus (noun): a living thing, too small to be seen without a microscope, that causes infectious disease in people, animals and plants - เชื้อไวรัส
