Thai Airways extends suspension of flights until Sept 1, 2020
Dhaka: Thai Airways International (Thai) has extended its suspension of flights for yet another month.
Thailand's national carrier had originally planned to resume flights in June, but it was reported in April that this had been postponed by a month until the beginning of July, with the airline making an official announcement on May 18.
A contact at Thai Airways, who asked not to be named, said in late-May that flights were to resume on August 1, 2020, at the earliest.
On July 8, it was learned that the Thai flag carrier has cancelled all of its flights in August, and is now planning to resume flights on September 1, 2020, at the earliest.
The airline plans to stagger the resumption of flights with select key routes launching first.
It will also reduce the frequency and downsize the aircraft used on routes. London, for example is normally a double daily service that utilises an Airbus A380 and Boeing 777, but will resume as a daily Boeing 777 flight once TG's planes get off the ground.
Some routes will only resume on October 25, around the beginning of the northern winter schedule.
Thai Airways has not made an official statement on this latest extension to September 1, nor shared any details of the resumption of flights.
TG's continued suspension of flights raises quite a few questions for those currently in Thailand waiting to fly home, and for those overseas waiting to get back.
At the moment, the visa amnesty in Thailand lasts until July 31, and while there are some airlines that are operating passenger flights ex-Thailand only, people holding tickets with TG will not want to spend money on a new ticket, and it is not clear whether they would be allowed to transfer to another Star Alliance carrier free of charge. Star Alliance has been very quiet on this
It is also not clear when those with tickets on Thai Airways would be allowed to return to Thailand. The airline is currently operating repatriation flights, but these are only available to Thais and any foreigners wanting to get a seat must meet a strict and limiting criteria which involves paying for 14-16 days in quarantine.
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