Three "underperforming" routes dropped by Thai Airways

Thai Airways this week announced that it would be dropping services to Kuwait, Osaka through Manila, as well as its Hong Kong-Taipei route due to lacklustre demand.

Calling the three services "underperforming" Thai Airways said that it would axe the routes come March and the extra capacity which would be freed up will be placed on higher demand routes.

Thai Airways will in turn re-instate its services to Johannesburg from Bangkok which it dropped a year ago later in May.  Flown in a Boeing 777-200ER, Thai Airways initially plans to operate the service four times a week.

In a statement Pruet Boophakam, Commercial THAI Executive Vice-President, notes that "the World Cup 2010 being held in South Africa in June provides a good business opportunity to reinstate the Johannesburg flights and the growing economy in that region offers another incentive."

Thai Airways plans to drop its current Bangkok-Kuwait service flown in an Airbus A330-300, Hong Kong-Taipei service flown in a Boeing 747-400s, and Bangkok-Manila-Osaka service in a Boeing 777-200s.