Orient Thai Airlines is seeking distribution channels for its air tickets with cinema complexes, convenience stores and mall kiosks.

Udom Tantiprasongchai, CEO of Orient Thai, said he wants EGV and Major Cineplex ticket counters to be the next ticket distribution channels for his firm.

He said Orient Thai recently sent a proposal to EGV and will send one to Major Cineplex soon. He said the move is aimed at serving customers more quickly.

He said both cinema complexes had a dearth of ticket counters that did not sell movie tickets every minute of every hour of the day, and added if cinema complexes assent to the proposal, the airline would be able to increase its flight frequency.

Udom said Orient Thai would implement another ticket distribution channel, via home delivery, tomorrow of very soon after.

Orient Thai has hired Room Service Co Ltd to deliver air tickets to customers in the Bangkok area after they reserve their tickets through the airline�s call centre.

The delivery price for the service is Bt100 in central Bangkok and Bt150 in Bangkok�s outskirts.

Udom said the airline also intends to sell tickets through some 30 kiosks located in department stores throughout Bangkok.

Each kiosk costs Bt25,000 and will sell a plethora of tickets, for events as well as flights, including concerts. Currently, there are four kiosk prototypes, operating at Sala Daeng, On Nut, Mo chit and Emporium department stores.

Udom will hold over a 50-per-cent stake in the kiosk project while the Orient Thai marketing team will hold the rest. The kiosk subsidiary is expected to start operations in the next two months.

The airline is also looking to sell tickets through the Counter Service system available in 7-Eleven convenience stores. Udom said Orient Thai sent a proposal to Counter Service in October of last year and received no answer, until Counter Service called back last Friday and resumed negotiations with the airline.

Counter Service alsosells tickets for Nok Air.

Udom said his airline expects to collect Bt3.5 billion in revenue this year, of which Bt1.8 billion will come from domestic routes. The airline currently brings in Bt100 million in revenue a month, while its revenue last year was just under Bt1 billion. The airline will open new routes to Ubon Ratchathani, Surat Thani and Singapore in September. Khon Kaen, Krabi, Phitsanulok and Narathiwat routes will open late this year.

The company will buy four new 100-seat Fokkers to serve the latter domestic routes.

Last Saturday, Orient opened a twice a week charter service to Macau from Bangkok, and on August 17 it will open a route from Phuket to the same city.

In September, if Thai and Macau authorities approve a proposed open sky agreement, Orient will step up operations to four flights a week.

Thai AirAsia is also opening a route to Macau, and assuming the open sky policy is approved, the budget airline will fly five days a week to Macau and charge Bt6,000 for a round-trip ticket.

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