Thai Airways International announced a plan Sunday to join China's biggest aviation distribution system, Travel Sky, to better serve China's rapid growing aviation and tourism market.

This is an unprecedented procedure to upgrade the airline's image in China. Other methods will include operating the new aircraft Airbus A380, reorganizing its Chinese team, adopting a new logo for the company and moving to new office in Beijing.

Travel Sky will provide electronic distribution support for Thai Airways. In 2004, Travel Sky reaped overall revenue of more than one billion yuan (US$125 million) from airline companies, airports, ticket agents, customers and cargo dealers, up 43.6 percent compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, said Peng Mingtian, president of the company.

Thai Airways hopes its focus on China will help shake off the negative influence of December's tsunami and promote tourism recovery. 

The airline will launch morning flights from Beijing to Bangkok beginning May 1 to accommodate for passengers who wish to transfer to other destinations within the same day.

Thai Airways started to fly to Guangzhou in 1983 and Beijing in 1994. It became an important bridge of Sino-Thai economic and trade relations.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2005)