newstodate.aero
Copenhagen, Jan 15, 2003 (newstodate): -We would just be happy to introduce a service between Oslo, Norway, and Bangkok, Thailand. Plans do exist, and are openly debated at management levels. But for the time being there are no official indications whether plans will materialise or not. It remains an open issue so far, says Henning Arboe, Thai Airways cargo sales manager Scandinavia & Finland, at Copenhagen.
Thai Airways Intl operates five times weekly from Bangkok to Copenhagen, and four times to Stockholm with Boeing 747-400s taking 20-25 tonnes of cargo, depending on passenger loads and other factors.
-We have high cargo load factors on all existing departures from Scandinavia, so basically the market situation is good for the company. We do take cargo in the Norwegian market, but as we have not had sufficient capacity available to grow in this market we have not, correspondingly, performed a deep-going market research. Everybody speaks about the Norwegian salmon, and its export volumes destined for Asian markets are astonishing, indeed. Still Im convinced that there is much more to it than just salmon, and it is really somewhat distressing to know that you do not have your potential share of the market due to a mere shortage of capacity, Henning Arboe says.
He would, of course, most of all be happy to see Thai Airways initiate a freighter service to Scandinavia though prospects for this are even more dim than in the case of a Thai passenger service into Oslo:
-We do not currently operate freighters into Europe. We have an agreement with Air France Cargo comprising 50 percent of the freighter capacity three times weekly out of Paris CDG, while an earlier agreement with Lufthansa Cargo has already been suspended. Im confident that we would be able to achieve profitability with a Thai freighter service between Scandinavia and Thailand which would allow us to compete with, notably, Singapore Airlines Cargo which is reportedly very successful in the market. But it is mere speculation, Arboe says.
Checkpoint newstodate
Thai Airways Intl operates five times weekly from Bangkok to Copenhagen, and four times to Stockholm with Boeing 747-400s taking 20-25 tonnes of cargo, depending on passenger loads and other factors.
-We have high cargo load factors on all existing departures from Scandinavia, so basically the market situation is good for the company. We do take cargo in the Norwegian market, but as we have not had sufficient capacity available to grow in this market we have not, correspondingly, performed a deep-going market research. Everybody speaks about the Norwegian salmon, and its export volumes destined for Asian markets are astonishing, indeed. Still Im convinced that there is much more to it than just salmon, and it is really somewhat distressing to know that you do not have your potential share of the market due to a mere shortage of capacity, Henning Arboe says.
He would, of course, most of all be happy to see Thai Airways initiate a freighter service to Scandinavia though prospects for this are even more dim than in the case of a Thai passenger service into Oslo:
-We do not currently operate freighters into Europe. We have an agreement with Air France Cargo comprising 50 percent of the freighter capacity three times weekly out of Paris CDG, while an earlier agreement with Lufthansa Cargo has already been suspended. Im confident that we would be able to achieve profitability with a Thai freighter service between Scandinavia and Thailand which would allow us to compete with, notably, Singapore Airlines Cargo which is reportedly very successful in the market. But it is mere speculation, Arboe says.
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