Airline Suspending Flights To Los Angeles And Rome Under Restructuring Plan

As part of an overall restructuring plan, Thai Airways International is cutting 1,401 jobs and eliminating flights to Los Angeles and Rome in an effort to reduce operating costs by 20 percent.

Reuters reports that the country's national carrier is one of several state-controlled entities that the military government has targeted for change since taking power in May of last year.

Suspending the LA and Rome routes will reduce the airline's capacity by 5 percent, according to Thai Airways International president Charumporn Jotikasthira. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Jotikasthira said that as 2015 continues, the company plans to further reduce capacity by 15 percent.

The two-year plan has budgeted the equivalent of $151.86 million for voluntary staff retirements, which does not include those who would have been retiring this year anyway.

The airline is also reducing the frequency of flights to Kolkata, India, and shifting other routes to its mid-cost carrier Smile. However, the number of flights from Bangkok to London, England and Frankfurt, Germany will double from one to two per day, Jotikasthira said.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.thaiairways.com