THAI not to raise surcharge in near future

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) - President of Thai Airways International (THAI) Piyasvasti Amranand has announced that the national airline will not raise its surcharge during March-April 2012, despite the rising prices of jet fuel to over 130 dollars a barrel currently, a record high. Piyasvasti acknowledged that THAI has been hedged against vulnerable fuel prices under an insurance policy, which has cushioned the national flag carrier from impacts of any global fuel price hike, and that growing competition in the global aviation industry is, however, affecting the company’s bottom line but the national airline's revenues have remained on track since the beginning of this year as planned. Piyasvasti reported that THAI's cabin factor, or an average rate of reserved seats of overall flights, slightly dropped to 77 per cent between March 1-15, 2012, from 79 per cent a month earlier, due partly to the overcrowded Suvarnabhumi International Airport, which resulted in flight delays, noting, nonetheless, that the 77 per cent cabin factor is considered normal in an annual low-season travelling period. The THAI president told reporters that the national flag carrier and its low-cost subsidiaries, namely Nok Air and ThaiSmile, have no plan to relocate domestic flights to Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, as most of their customers are passengers in transit for international flights. Regarding a plan by the European Union (EU) to impose a carbon credit levy on international flights entering the 27-nation bloc's skies beginning from next year, the THAI president said that a number of governments, including the Thai and Chinese administrations, have sent their letters to the EU opposing to the policy, which is considered unfair as the EU is actually the largest emitter of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. According to the THAI top executive, if the EU's carbon credit fee was levied, THAI's operational costs would soar by 200-300 million baht annually and it could prompt a number of airlines to reroute their EU-bound flights or to make stopovers at non-EU airports in order to avoid paying the carbon credit levy, which would, instead, lead to the world's more jet fuel consumption and more carbon emissions. (TNA)