Air Transport

Thai Airways International plans to expand its international presence with the help of Star Alliance and in partcular alliance partners South African Airways and All Nippon Airways (ANA).

The Star Alliance carrier's executive VP commercial Pruet Boobphakam says it plans to reach more places in the USA with the use of codeshares on ANA flights to that country.

He cites as an example Hawaii.

He also says Thai is resuming services, by April, on the Bangkok-Johannesburg route and plans to codeshare on South African Airways' flights from Johannesburg to Sao Paolo in Brazil.

Thai will have a four-times-weekly service to Johannesburg using Boeing 777s, he adds.

Thai's strategy is to increase frequency to existing international destinations and reach new destinations through codeshares, he says.