 "Air India partners with Bangkok Airways to expand into Southeast Asia")
Air India has entered into an interline partnership with Bangkok Airways that will allow Tata group airline's customers seamless connections to 10 Southeast Asian destinations beyond the Thailand capital.
The two carriers have also entered a Special Prorate Agreement that allows them to file 'through fares' on routes covering each other's networks. This arrangement means that a passenger can have a single fare for a single ticket covering all destinations in an itinerary.
The partnership enables Air India passengers to take convenient connections via the airline's Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Singapore gateways to and from 10 destinations in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia on Bangkok Airways' route network, a release said on Thursday.
An interline arrangement refers to a pact to issue and accept tickets for flights that are operated by the partner airline. When selling an interline ticket, the operating airlines' own flight numbers are used.
The collaboration with Bangkok Airways also includes Inter Airline Through Check-In (IATCI) implementation. This will enable guests to receive their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors on a single ticket, and have their baggage checked-in through to their final destinations, Air India said in the release.
Currently, Air India operates daily flights to Bangkok from Delhi and Mumbai, to Singapore from Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, and thrice a week to Hong Kong from Delhi.
Moreover, Air India passengers taking connecting flights on Bangkok Airways will also receive complimentary access to the Thailand-based airline's boutique lounges and courtesy corners at available airports, irrespective of the class of travel, it said.
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"One of our strategic priorities at Air India is to offer our guests the choice of flying to more places through our own as well as an augmented global network," Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer at Air India, said.
Air India passengers can connect to Chiang Mai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Trat, Koh Samui, Phuket, and Krabi in Thailand through Bangkok Airways. The destinations outside Thailand include Luang Prabang in Laos; and Phnom Penh, Siem Reap in Cambodia, as per the release.
The airline's passengers can also choose to fly to Koh Samui via Singapore and Hong Kong.
"We are entering in an interline partnership with Air India to strengthen our respective route networks and offer business and leisure travellers with unprecedented and convenient access to new gateways," Chulin Kocharoen, Vice President for Network and Product Development at Bangkok Airways PLC, said.