Thai Airways has disclosed that its chairman has resigned as the carrier struggles with financial challenges. The airline said Friday that Ekniti Nitithanprapas resigned as of Nov. 1. The carrier's vice chairman, Air Chief Marshal Chaiyapruk Didyasarin, will be acting chairman. Thai Airways gave no reason for Ekniti's departure after three of the airline's executive directors recently quit. The company's president recent drew criticism for saying the company was in crisis and might have to close if its employees do not cooperate with a rehabilitation plan. The airline has been selling decommissioned aircraft to help alleviate its cash crunch.<br/>
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A five-year rest in a Thai beach town may be idyllic, but not for the six Thai Airways A340-600s parked at Pattaya’s U-Tapao airport 147km outside of Bangkok accumulating maintenance charges while awaiting a buyer for the unpopular aircraft. Instead, the Thai government is now advising the flag carrier to consider putting the A340-600s back into service after updating the cabin interior. That would bring better airframe ownership economics than selling the aircraft and buying new ones, the government suggests. Thai management has been evaluating fleet options since its board rejected in September a long-sought plan to buy 38 aircraft. Amid increasing public scrutiny of the flag carrier’s US$3.2b debt and growing losses this year, the board wants to reduce upfront costs and initially told management to explore leasing and if all proposed aircraft are still needed. The new suggestion from Deputy Minister of Transport Thaworn Sennam is that Thai should assess retrofitting the A340-600s with new interiors and then flying them on long-haul routes, according to Thai paper Manager Daily. Thai withdrew its last A340-600 from service in March 2015. Thaworn did not say if all six parked aircraft should be re-activated.<br/>
Lufthansa faces strike action after a cabin crew union voted to escalate its conflict with Europe’s biggest airline group. The UFO union said late Friday that members voted for strike action at the group’s airlines including Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine after pay talks with company bosses broke down. The union will now decide when the strikes will take place. Lufhansa didn’t accept a proposal from the union and the union will announce the escalation of protests in a video message next Monday at 2 pm local time, a spokeswoman said. Lufthansa last month cancelled flights at its SunExpress Deutschland, Lufthansa CityLine, Germanwings and Eurowings after UFO called a warning strike. A separate strike at the main airline was cancelled after the company agreed to a 2% wage increase by the end of the year, UFO said. <br/>
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) and Swiss Federal Railways will expand their Flugzug service to connect more rail stations with Zurich Airport. The new partnership is intended to promote rail as an integrated transport mode for travelers going to and from the SWISS hub. The Flugzug system will also be made more flexible, offering a wider choice of train services and aligning travelers as closely as possible with their air connections. The rail services will be given a SWISS flight number. Flugzug services currently operate between Zurich Airport and rail stations in Basel and Lugano. The initial focus of the expansion will be on connecting other Swiss cities and tourist destinations, such as Bern, Lucerne, Andermatt, Interlaken and Zermatt. “In embarking on their strategic collaboration, the partners are responding to a growing demand among travellers for the seamless combinability of different transport modes,” SWISS said.<br/>