KEY POINTS:
Thai Airways International may end its non-stop flights between Bangkok and Auckland in October, a move described by Tourism Minister Damien O'Connor as a big blow to the tourism industry.
There are at present five flights a week.
Ending the non-stop service was reported in the Bangkok Post, citing the airline's executive vice-president Pandit Chanapai. Long-haul non-stop flights, including two to the US, were said to be non-viable due to prohibitive fuel prices, which have since led to the airline's worst quarterly loss in a decade.
Instead, the carrier would operate to Auckland via either Sydney or Melbourne to improve revenues by picking up passengers from the Australian stopover.
However, since O'Connor's statement, a Thai Airways spokeswoman insisted the plan to end the non-stop Bangkok-Auckland service was tentative.
"We are reviewing the performance of all routes and have yet to make a conclusion," she said.
O'Connor expressed concern that suspension of the non-stop service would not only curtail tourism flows between Bangkok and Auckland, but would also affect traffic to New Zealand from other points on Thai Airways network, particularly from Europe.
"To stop this service would be a big blow to the flourishing relationship between New Zealand and Thailand," he said, adding that since the inception of Thai's non-stop flights to Auckland in 2005, visitors from Thailand using the route had increased by 95 per cent.
"The flights have also been very popular with New Zealanders holidaying in Thailand, with more than 37,000 New Zealand citizens using these flights last year," O'Connor said.
The non-stop flights have also helped build traffic to New Zealand from other points on the Thai Airways network.
"Europeans passing through Bangkok on their way to New Zealand have increased by a phenomenal 110 per cent since 2005. There is also high potential for growth in traffic from India to New Zealand via Bangkok," O'Connor said.
Thai Airways, which is state-owned, has been operating to New Zealand since 1987, initially via Sydney, but changed to non-stop flights in November 2005, after Emirates entered the Tasman.
