March 5th - BA's Strategic Return to Southeast Asia: A Delicate Balance
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2024
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I explore British Airways' cautious return to Bangkok with limited service and compare it to the extensive offerings by Gulf carriers to Southeast Asia. Despite BA's modest re-entry, the move signifies a strategic step towards increased competition and choice for travelers. I also touch upon BA's full-scale return to Kuala Lumpur, highlighting the competitive landscape and alternatives for reaching popular Thai destinations like Phuket.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me, Simon Calder. |
| 0:09.5 | It's Tuesday the 5th of March. |
| 0:12.0 | Great excitement in the airline world, or at least among a large number of passengers, as far as I can see, that British Airways is returning to Bangkok. |
| 0:25.4 | But I'd like to talk to you about what's actually happening on flights to Thailand |
| 0:30.6 | and why I think, as a big deal, this is really very, very small beer. Let me explain. Bangkok always used to be a really |
| 0:43.4 | big destination for British Airways. It was one of the places that the airline stopped on |
| 0:49.6 | its way to Australia and New Zealand in the days when it had, typically at least, two jumbo jets |
| 0:57.7 | departing for Australia every day. Of course, now it has a single flight going via Singapore. |
| 1:07.0 | Bangkok was dropped as a route by British Airways from Heathrow as soon as the COVID panic began, |
| 1:14.8 | and, well, it hasn't come back. |
| 1:18.5 | It will, however, be back on the 28th of October, but in nothing like the scale or the style that it was previously. It was flown from London Heathrow with a four-class |
| 1:32.8 | aircraft, first club world, world traveller plus or premium economy and economy itself. But from the |
| 1:41.7 | 28th of August it is only going to be a three-class operation, no first class, |
| 1:48.0 | and it's only going to go three days a week, and it's going to go from Gatwick. |
| 1:52.8 | Now, when you compare that offer against, well, both Thai Airways and the interesting Taiwanese airline, Eva Air, having very long established |
| 2:05.3 | routes from London Heathrow, Thai going twice a day, Eva going once a day. You begin to think, |
| 2:13.1 | well, why are they bothering? And I think it is simply that they perceive there is a modest amount of leisure travel, |
| 2:24.2 | particularly premium leisure travel, |
| 2:26.3 | and particularly among people who really like flying British airways. |
| 2:31.6 | There is a remarkable constituency of such people who, for a couple of |
| 2:41.1 | reasons, I think. First of all, of course, British Airways, great reputation for safety, |
| 2:46.1 | and that's commendable. And I absolutely salute that. of course the other great British carriers as well as |
... |
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