TG to halve Australian staff

THAI Airways International is reducing its local workforce by almost 50%, with the carrier confirming a number of voluntary redundancies in the coming months including long-time Marketing Manager Sue Marr who will leave at the end of 2021.

Despite the staff cuts “we remain committed to working as quickly as possible to assist all travel agents and customers,” the carrier said, with most of the redundancies effective 01 Nov.

“Essential processing will continue Mon-Fri from 9am to 5pm on 1300 651 960 or via email,” the airline said, noting that passengers with flights cancelled by TG are now entitled to claim an extended travel validity until Dec 2022.

TG is also now processing “a small volume of refunds” worldwide each month, with the carrier previously blocking all payouts due to it undergoing restructuring under a bankruptcy proceeding (TD 17 Sep 2020).

The update also detailed new thrice weekly non-stop flights between Sydney and Phuket effective 08 Dec (TD breaking news yesterday), along with four weekly Sydney-Bangkok services as operations begin to ramp up.

Thai flights are now scheduled beyond Bangkok to London, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Milan, Brussels, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, Seoul, Taipei, Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya and Jakarta, while operations to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are planned to resume from Jan 2022.

Special fares are on offer under a sale valid for bookings from today until 31 Oct, for travel 31 Oct-26 Mar 2022, while TG also confirmed that flights between Melbourne and Bangkok are currently scheduled to restart in Apr next year.