International Airlines Review (105)

Thai Airways International Public Company Limited is the national carrier of the Kingdom of Thailand. It operates domestic, regional and intercontinental flights radiating from its home base in Bangkok to key destinations around the world and within Thailand. The company's fully paid up share capital amounts to 16,988,765,500 Baht (9 May 2005) and is 53.77% owned by the Ministry of Finance, the Thai Government. At the end of September 2004, consolidated total assets of the company amounted to 193,211 million Baht. In its operations, THAI has achieved profitability every year for the last 40 consecutive years.

Thai Airways International was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between Thailand's domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company (TAC) and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) with the Scandinavian carrier initially providing a 30% share capital of two million Baht. SAS also provided operations, managerial and marketing expertise, with training assistance aiming at building a fully independent national airline within the shortest possible time. Thai nationals, through training and experience, were gradually able to assume full managerial responsibility and the number of expatriate staff duly reduced until, in 1987, expatriates accounted for less than one percent of staff based in Thailand.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is an international airline operating worldwide. KLM forms the core of the KLM Group, other members being KLM cityhopper and transavia.com. KLM merged with Air France in 2004 in a business model that is unique in the aviation industry.

Under the Air France-KLM holding company, both KLM and Air France operate as network airlines: via hubs, or transfer airports, they maintain a worldwide network of services to European and intercontinental destinations. KLM and Air France complement each other through the optimal alignment of their networks and through the coordination of their three core activities: passenger transport, cargo transport and aircraft maintenance.

In close cooperation with Air France, KLM offers passengers and airfreight shippers more than 250 destinations worldwide, either non-stop or via another airport. A key principle in the alliance is the dual hub strategy: KLM and Air France’s home bases of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle respectively act as transfer airports in the shared network. Measured by operating revenues, Air France-KLM is the largest airline group in the world.

KLM is a member of SkyTeam, one of the three global airline alliances. With ten members as of April 2006, SkyTeam is the second largest alliance by market share. KLM is thus a key player in a strong global alliance that has important positions in North America, Europe and Asia. KLM – with its partner Kenya Airways – and Air France also enjoy a strong position in Africa.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG ranks upfront among the world’s leading airlines.As an Aviation Group, Lufthansa adheres firmly to economic and strategic criteria, focusing on the core competencies of its five business areas: passenger traffic, logistics, MRO, catering and IT services. The Group attaches overriding importance to quality and innovation, safety and reliability.

Airline alliances are a major contributory factor towards Lufthansa’s success. As a founding member of the world’s biggest airline grouping, the Star Alliance network, Lufthansa offers customers countless advantages – among them, the world’s biggest route network. Its regional strategy under the Lufthansa Regional brand links Europe’s regions together and provides them with connecting services into the global Star Alliance network. Bilateral partnerships augment and enhance the services portfolio.

The Austrian Airlines Group provides an attractive portfolio of services in the scheduled, cargo and charter segments. Top levels of quality and punctuality, an outstanding price-performance ratio, a dense network of connections via the central Vienna hub, individualised fare selection options and the proven Austrian touch are just some of the features used successfully by the Group to distinguish itself from competitor airlines. In line with the "Focus East" strategy, the main markets of the Austrian Airlines Group are its Central and East European services and connections to the Middle East. Long-haul services to North America and the Far East complete the Group’s product range.

Vienna’s domestic airport, Vienna International Airport, uses superior infrastructure, while its highly efficient handling of incoming and outgoing aircraft ensures the fast, comfortable transfer of our passengers. The airport’s average transfer time of just 25 minutes is unique in Europe, in fact. Should you ever have a longer time to wait until your departure, Vienna International Airport also offers generous and newly designed lounges to help you while away the time until your departure in the most pleasant and harmonious atmosphere.

In the airline industry, constantly improving product and service quality is a crucial success factor. As a quality carrier, therefore, the Austrian Airlines Group is implementing a range of measures aimed at the ongoing expansion and optimisation of its product range. The new basis for this is a wide-ranging quality and service offensive. Launched in 2006, the new campaign is designed to emphasise the differentiation of the company from competitor airlines. Numerous new and attractive features were created, ranging from free snack service in the economy class through to lounges and ground services. The policy has been a successful one: a series of recent industry surveys have seen the Austrian Airlines Group receive top rankings in quality and customer satisfaction categories

Finnair, one of the world's oldest operating airlines, was established on 1st November, 1923. Its operations focus on transporting passengers between Europe and Asia, via Helsinki.

Finnair Group operations cover scheduled passenger traffic and leisure traffic, technical and ground handling operations, catering, travel agencies as well as travel information and reservation services. The number of personnel of Finnair Group is approximately 9 500. The subsidiaries provide air traffic support services or operate in closely related areas.

Finnair's major shareholder is the Finnish government with a 55.8 per cent holding. Other shareholders include insurance companies, various companies and private individuals. Approximately 20 per cent of the shares are owned by foreign shareholders.

United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA) operates more than 3,200* flights a day on United, United Express and Ted to more than 200 U.S. domestic and international destinations from its hubs in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. With key global air rights in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and Latin America, United is one of the largest international carriers based in the United States.

United also is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides connections for our customers to 965 destinations in 162 countries worldwide. United's 55,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world.