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A former senior executive of THAI has asked the prime minister to investigate the grounding of 10 Airbus A340 aircraft bought by the carrier in the face of objections to the purchase. Filing his request at the Govt House complaints centre Thursday, Yothin Pamornmontree, a former VP of the airline, called for an inquiry into the purchase of the Airbus A340-500s and A340-600s which are currently not being used. The deal should be studied for its transparency and investment worthiness, Yothiun said. The airline had proceeded with the purchase even though the National Economic and Social Development Board had objected to it. Use of the aircraft had caused an annual loss of THB3-5b, and so they had to be grounded. They were parked at Don Mueang and U-Tapao airports, he said. <br/>

The thick flock of airplanes crossing the North Atlantic daily doesn’t appear to worry TAP Portugal. The airline will begin offering flights between Toronto and Lisbon 5 times a week in June, betting in part that Lisbon’s proximity to North America will help it siphon off some of the passengers who now travel to Portugal via London or other major European hubs. Carlos Paneiro, the company’s VP of sales for North and Central America, said: “It’s [Lisbon] not as crowded as Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle. It’s not huge, so it’s one more asset we have in order to convince Canadians to choose TAP.” Restoring service to Toronto, a destination abandoned during the mid-1990s, comes following a series of transactions that has turned the former wholly-owned govt airline into one with shared ownership. <br/>