Bangkok--11 Dec--Thai Airways
Thai Airways International Limited’s new President, Mr. Piyasvasti Amranand, pledged THAI’s renewed and strongest commitment to membership of Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance, of which THAI was the only Asian based founding carrier.
Mr. Piyasvasti attended his first Star Alliance Chief Executive Board meeting in Brussels, Belgium from 8-10 December, 2009.
“Since taking on this job I have identified and appreciated the benefits of THAI belonging to Star Alliance and am therefore determined to ensure we extract as much competitive advantage from our membership as possible,” Mr. Piyasvasti said as he entered the CEB meeting.
THAI joined Lufthansa, United Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Air Canada as a founding member of Star Alliance in 1997. Today Star Alliance comprises 26 carriers serving more than 1000 destinations in 170 countries, operating more than 19,500 flights a day.
THAI promotes Thailand tourism through a special “Discover Thailand” airpass, offering domestic incentive fares so visitors can see more of Thailand. It also participates in Round-the-word and Circle Asia Star Alliance fares and provides Move Under One Roof (MUOR) services for Star Alliance Member Airlines at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“With our Suvarnabhumi hub in the middle of Asia and THAI’s extensive network, we are well placed to take maximum advantage of the Star Alliance global network with our alliance partners. I want to ensure that our membership is to the benefit of our customers through good connections, use of the many Star Alliance services, integrated technology, and air points accumulation and redemptions across the alliance,” said Mr. Piyasvasti, adding: “ I am looking forward to meeting my fellow chief executives, to give them THAI’s strong commitment to Star Alliance and to learn more about how we can benefit even more from our membership.
Mr. Piyasvasti said with THAI’s strategy of targeting more premium class and frequent flyer travelers, the ability of travelers to accumulate and redeem air miles across all 26 carriers, meant Star Alliance’s focus on these customers fitted well with the THAI strategy.
Accumulated miles means once a customers reaches Gold Card status they receive many enhanced benefits such as priority reservations, wait listing, check-in and baggage handling, more generous baggage allowances and access to more than 900 premium class airport lounges worldwide.