Bangkok set to improve gateway status
Bangkok's long-awaited new Suvarnabhumi airport will open this year, reinforcing the city's status as an important gateway for SE Asia. "The new airport is expected to open later this year," Vasing Kittikul, Thai Airways' executive VP commercial told Business Traveller at the launch of Swiss into the Star Alliance in Zurich. "We intend to position ourselves as a significant hub for destinations beyond Bangkok" said Kittikul. "Both ourselves and fellow Star Alliance carriers are working together to optimise available connections through this airport."
Other developments include a confirmation that by this July all of Thai's B747-400s will have the carrier's new lie-flat style business class seats. The new seats are currently available on at least one of Thai's daily flights out of London Heathrow to Bangkok (see Online news, January 11). Passengers will automatically experience the new business class seating if they book a flight in one of Thai's new Airbus A340-600 planes. They can be found flying to Bangkok from Europe's secondary gateways like Athens, Copenhagen, Madrid, Rome and Zurich.
In other Star news, Scandinavia's SAS is partnering with fellow Star member Swiss to carry its passengers between Copenhagen and Singapore via Bangkok. Last month (see Online news, March 9) SAS announced that for cost reasons it was scrapping its Copenhagen-Bangkok-Singapore service in favour of simply flying Copenhagen-Bangkok.
"We have decided to link with Swiss to carry our passengers on from Bangkok to Singapore," Joergen Lindegaard, SAS president and CEO told Business Traveller. "Both our service and that of Swiss have timings which allow us to feed passengers between one another. It's an opportunity for both of us as we were both flying with half-empty planes [on the Bangkok-Singapore-Bangkok sectors]"
It means that SAS passengers get the benefit of a through service although the overall journey time is a few minutes longer owing to the plane change. SAS flight SK973 departs Copenhagen at 2125 to reach Bangkok at 1320 the next day. Connecting Swiss flight LX182 (which comes in from Zurich) departs Bangkok at 1510 and arrives in Singapore at 1830.
On the way back, flight LX183 leaves Singapore at 2110, arrives Bangkok at 2235. SAS' Copenhagen passengers then switch planes to SK972 leaving at 00.35 and arriving Copenhagen at 0625.
SAS and Swiss both operate Airbus A340-300s to and from Bangkok. The Swiss planes have lie-flat style seating in business class. Those of SAS are currently being fitted with this new seating.
For more information go to
TG website,
Suvarnabhumi Airport website,
SAS website,
Swiss website
Report by Alex McWhirter
Air France introduces online check-in
Air France and its partner airline KLM have joined the growing list of airlines offering internet check-in for most destinations. Passengers can now check-in online at their leisure between 24 hours and 30 minutes before the check-in deadline for their flight, and choose to print out their boarding pass or collect it at one of the self-service kiosks at the airport.
Passengers may use the service whether they are travelling with or without checked baggage, an added bonus compared to the online check-in facilities recently introduced by low cost carriers Easyjet and Ryanair (see online news February 23 and January 25 respectively), which are for passengers with hand luggage only.
The service follows British Airways' announcement that from April 25 all domestic passengers must check-in using online or self service kiosks (see online news March 23). Internet check-in represents yet another cost saving opportunity for airlines, complementing the established e-ticketing now used by the majority of carriers. There are undoubted advantages for the consumer, such as being able to arrive later at the airport, choosing seats online, and ensuring that frequent flyer details are attached to the purchase.
But it is still a relatively new concept, and airlines have had mixed experiences in delivering the product to the consumer. The Bmi website for example provides excellent demonstrations of its online and self check-in facilities, but when a member of the Business Traveller team tried to access his account on two separate occasions in the last week, he found the service to be temporarily unavailable. Understandably there has also been concern from the airlines regarding online credit card fraud, and Business Traveller will be publishing an investigation into the implications in its May issue.
In other news, Air France has announced plans to allow passengers to use their mobile phones onboard flights. Trials will begin in early 2007 on new A318 aircraft fitted with 'OnAir', an inflight system which allows mobiles to be used without the risk of disrupting the plane's navigation.
The service will enable passengers to send and receive calls and text messages, access the internet in WAP/imode, and receive and send emails on a laptop or PDA. Exact details of the service are sketchy at present, although Business Traveller understands that call tariffs will be comparable to the international roaming agreements currently used by phone operators.
For more information visit
AF website,
KLM website
Report by Mark Caswell
Bmi poised to operate Saudi routes with B767
Bmi will switch its Saudi Arabian services from an Airbus A330 to a Boeing 767 from next Saturday (April 22). The B767, which is being leased from a Dutch charter will have a different seating layout to the A330 which has operated the Saudi routes since last autumn.
Whereas the A330 operates in a three-class (business, premium economy and economy) layout the B767 will be two class. There will no longer be a premium economy cabin.
The Riyadh flight departs every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from Heathrow at 0935 to arrive in Saudi Arabia at 1750. The inbound service operates every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday departing Riyadh at 0025 to reach Heathrow at 0525.
The B767 will launch a new three times a week service to Jeddah starting on May 18. Flights (at similar timings to the Riyadh services) will depart Heathrow every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday returning early the next day.
In another move Bmi has surprisingly decided to interline its Riyadh and Jeddah services with British Airways for passengers booking through flights to North America. Logically, one might have thought Bmi would team up with fellow Star Alliance partner United rather than a carrier in a rival alliance (BA being a Oneworld member). On the other hand, BA serves more gateways in the US and Canada than does United.
The tie-up, displayed on the Saudi section of ba.com covers Bmi flights departing Saudi Arabia for North America. Passengers fly Bmi to Heathrow from where they connect with BA to any of 22 destinations in the US and Canada. Executive Club members earn mileage with both Bmi and BA flights (though bear in mind a change of terminals might be required as Bmi flights go into Terminal 1 while most of BA's transatlantic flights depart Terminal 4).
The special interline fares start at SR4,300 (£654) in economy class from Jeddah to New York (via Heathrow) with Jeddah-San Francisco costing SR4,900 (£746). Ticket prices exclude taxes and fees and, at the time of writing, can only be booked through BA's offices in Jeddah or Riyadh. They cannot be booked online.
In other news BA recently raised its UK online booking card fee from £2 to £3, while Bmi has settled with an even higher fee of £4.95 (except for holders of the Bmi credit card). From tomorrow (April 21) BA will increase its long-haul flight fuel surcharge from £30 to £35 per sector. The short-haul surcharge remains the same at £8 per sector.
For more information go to
BMI website,
BA website
Report by Alex McWhirter
Air NZ revives RTW kudos
Air New Zealand (ANZ) is reviving the kudos of being able to circumvent the globe using a single carrier.
Readers with long memories will recall that the late Pan Am instigated RTW flights almost 30 years ago. At the time Pan Am incurred the wrath of trade body IATA (International Air Transport Association) by offering a special fare in the form of a loyalty discount. Pan Am's ticket went on to become a big seller.
With the launch of daily London-Hong Kong-Auckland flights on October 29 (see Online news, April 6) ANZ is set emulate Pan Am's concept as it offers London-Auckland flights via either Asia or North America.
This has prompted London agent Austravel to devise a special fare for ANZ's RTW service. Lead-in prices for the basic routing covering London-Hong Kong-Auckland-Los Angeles-London are £789 for Economy class, £1,415 for Premium Economy and £2,688 for Business class. Stopovers are allowed in every city but note that taxes, charges and fees will inflate these rates.
Passengers can pay extra and make sidetrips to NZ domestic cities along with Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne across the Tasman. Other possibilities include Tahiti, Fiji and San Francisco. Most if not all these sectors will be with ANZ too.
ANZ's B747-400s used on the London route all feature the carrier's new long-haul products. Legroom in Economy class is 34 inches, Premium economy 38 to 40 inches while Business class consists of fully flat beds with almost 80 inches of space. Passengers deviating from the standard itinerary will find the new product on ANZ's B777s. Other B747s are in the process of being retrofitted.
For more information go to
Austravel.com website,
Air NZ UK website
Report by Alex McWhirter
UK regions get more transatlantic flights
US carriers will offer more transatlantic flights from the UK regions this summer.
As already noted (see Online news, March 2) Delta will launch a daily non-stop B767 service from Edinburgh to Atlanta on June 6. Now comes news that American will re-instate its daily B767 summer-time link between Glasgow and Chicago on May 2. Besides being destinations in their own right both Atlanta and Chicago are mammoth hubs which provide connections to many dozens of onward destinations.
Continental, which offers more direct services by B757 from the regions than any other carrier, is boosting flight frequency to its hub at New York (Newark). Last March it upgraded its flights from Bristol and Belfast from a five times a week to a daily service. Next month it will add extra flights from Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
From May 4 Edinburgh will be served by 11 flights a week while Glasgow will go up to 10 flights a week from May 6. Both Scottish cities currently have a single daily service.
Also on May 6, Continental will begin operating twice daily with B757s to Manchester in place of today's single service by B777. Finally on May 29, the carrier will increase the number of weekly flights from Birmingham to New York from seven to 10.
For more information go to
DL website,
AA website,
CO website
Report by Alex McWhirter
New Leicester (UK) Marriott
Marriott is poised to open a state-of-the-art business hotel on the outskirts of Leicester in the East Midlands. It's the first new-build Marriott outside London for over 10 years.
The 227-room property will open on May 31 and is aimed at guests arriving by car. Located close to junction 21 on the M1 and with the M69 close by the Marriott is a short drive from Leicester city centre. It's also convenient for other towns and cities in the Midlands including Derby, Nottingham, Coventry and Birmingham. East Midlands airport is a short drive north on the M1.
Accommodation comprises both regular and executive rooms along with a dedicated lounge. All feature the new Marriott interiors with "Revive" bedding, flat screen TVs and internet access. Wi-fi covers the lobby area.
Food and beverage outlets comprise a cocktail bar, lounge-style café and a new restaurant called Mixx. There are also 20 meeting rooms and a large function suite. Fitness facilities include a gym and pool.
Rates are keen. Introductory midweek offers for standard rooms are £99 for regular rooms (car parking at extra cost) or £105 (including breakfast and parking). Executive rooms (including the usual perks) cost £119. Weekend rates start at £58 (including breakfast), £76 (including breakfast and dinner) while executive rooms are priced at £96.
Marriott Leicester, Smith Way, Grove Park, Leicester LE19 1SW. Tel: 0870 6001348
For more information go to
Marriott website
Report by Alex McWhirter