Brand value of Thai Airways sags

The tepid resumption of business travel and inability of Thailand to become a connectivity hub has led Thai Airways' brand value to grow slower than its competitors, while Centara Grand secured the strongest brand in the country this year. Alex Haigh, managing director for Asia-Pacific at Brand Finance, said the government should work more on promoting the country in terms of objectives for visits, attracting people to live, work and retire here, not limiting itself to leisure tourism, for which the country is already popular. The company's study of Thai brands this year found the brand value of Thai Airways was US$990m, among the top 50 brand values in the country, though its value decreased from the $1.37b recorded in 2019. Haigh said although the airline grew by 3% in terms of brand value from last year, this was a slower pace than regional competitors Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, which grew 8% and 5%, respectively, year-on-year. The findings indicate Thai Airways has yet to return to 2019 capacity levels, he said.<br/>