joy16

I saw Thai news that FAA is upgraded Thailand to Category 1 and THAI can resume the services to USA from October 2016 onward.

Creole Spirit

...and THAI is expected to resume flights to US West coast!?!?

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...-thai-aviation

(http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/tran...tation-renewed)

brunos

Could not find any announcement by ICAO or FAA.
All I could find is:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gene...-thai-aviation

The information comes from a Line message sent by the Thai transport minister Arkhom. Might be a good idea to wait for official announcement by FAA. And even if that is announced today, it will take time to make all the arrangements to resume flights to US and even more doubtful that it would be a great success (my personal guess). But would certainly bring face to the Thai team.

Yobodon

http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/news/detail/720174
(This link is in Thai)
I am very suprise if true that the FAA is willing to upgrade Thailand to Cat 1 without actually coming here and re-audit.

Kraafish

The most logical would be SFO! SEA will 100% fail, so as LAX like previous time. But this is not going to fly well with stop over. Direct with A350 to SFO or EWR will be a key for THAI route in the US IMO

kittiyut

I totally agree. SEA and LAX will FAIL. I think EWR will probably fail too. So that leaves SFO as the most logical choice. A stop over (either @ NRT or ICN) will fail, non-stop will have a decent chance of making it into the black.

What about BKK-ORD direct? Any thoughts?

Yobodon

The problem with ORD is that it is notorious for delay in the summer. I don't see a good option for TG in North American Market.

BinSabai

and snow in winter with delays and cancellations...got affected twice as ORD was my usual hub to fly SEA - East Coast

washeelers747

Will have tough time to compete with some Asian premier carriers if they decide to go with a stopover. Thai can jump ahead by offer non-stop flight to SFO (hopefully utilization will be great like United's quick pitstop at SIN before going back to SFO).

Yobodon

Distance wise LA and SFO is only 337 mi apart so there is not gonna be much different in term of cost. The only advantage is that SFO is a big United hub.
Maybe they should think about flying to North American seasonally.

Kraafish

When THAI did A340 BKK-JFK it was 80%+ capacity everytime, the problem? Too many freebies up front, and high fuel cost. With A350, affordable fuel price, and hopefully better up front management non-stop BKK-EWR would work (with smart code-sharing like to IAD, BWI, BOS). I know a lot of big companies that have subsidiary in the East Coast would die for that route.

Don't think Chicago is a big attraction for tourism wise, when Thais think about USA, they think about Hollywood, and Statue of Liberty or where can they shop the most with the best instagram photos

But knowing Thai, they always do something stupid so they probably announcing something like BKK-PDX or BKK-SJC

Aussie_flyer

BKK-HKG-LAX with A350 i reckon. No star carrier does hkg-lax at the moment afaik.

Noppasit

Waiting for YVR and YYZ

Kraafish

+1 ^

A man can dream

brunos

SFO-BKK is a bit shorter than LAX. But it would still take some 17 hours. LAX-BKK adds another 40 min.
I am afraid that the economics are poor even with oil at $50 and A350 (they would need to devote a minimum of two frames to this rotation). The only way you could make such a fuel-hungry route work is with a lot of premium pax, but BKK is not a business-heavy destination. It will end up with cheap Y pax and awards in premium cabin.

A one-stop would make it less fuel-expensive but competition is tough as TG would only be flying to one US city. In comparison, airlines such as CX, NH, UA (via codeshares), KE, OZ or Chinese airlines fly to many US cities. TG would only attract traffic to/from that single US city. And major northern Asia airports are either already congested (HKG for example) or would not easily grant fifth freedom rights.
But TG wants the branding contribution of flying to the USA even at a loss (whatever their blabla).