Today's Bangkok Post had this story about the demise of TG's long haul flights. The link to the full story is also below:


THAI ends long-haul flights
Fuel costs land those longer than 15 hours

BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

The days of ultra long-haul air services _ those non-stop flights lasting more than 15 hours _ may be over for several carriers.

Thai Airways International (THAI) has suffered from prohibitive jet fuel prices of more than US$170 a barrel, which have made the long distance flights, such as THAI's doomed Bangkok-New York service, a commercial disaster.

Even though aircraft seats have been filled to capacity, spiralling oil prices have put the flights in the red. THAI has removed the ultra long-haul from its system with the suspension of its three routes that fall into category _ Bangkok-New York, Bangkok-Los Angeles and Bangkok-Auckland.

''The era of ultra long-haul flights has come to an end,'' THAI executive vice-president Pandit Chanapai told the Bangkok Post.

THAI's non-stop daily Bangkok-New York, which was introduced in May 2005, stopped on July 1, while the non-stop daily Bangkok-Los Angeles and the five-time-a-week Bangkok-Auckland flights are to be suspended in October. But the suspension of the ultra long-haul flight has created another headache for THAI to dispose its four A340-500s that serve shorter routes economically.

With the New York flights now terminated, THAI needs less than two of the A340-500s to continue flying the non-stop Bangkok-Los Angeles flights until October.

That means that the two other A340-500 jets are being grounded. The airline has not yet found a buyer for the long-range A340-500 jets, which have a listed price of about $180 million each. Executives said there are a few airlines showing interest in buying the THAI aircraft. They hoped that because of the relatively young age of A340-500s, just three years old, those jetliners should not be left on the tarmac for too long.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/070708_Bu...2008_biz38.php