BANGKOK, May 20 (UPI) -- Thai Airways International said it would form its own discount airline after two years of efforts to create one in conjunction with Tiger Airways.
''We have lost huge opportunities by not having a budget airline for two years now, so it is high time to quickly set things in motion now,'' Thai Chairman Ampon Kittiampon, the Bangkok Post reported Friday.
The new discount airline could be ready to begin flying within a year and would go head-to-head with AirAsia, a discount carrier based in Malaysia.
The Post said the new airline is "tentatively" named Thai Wings.
Thai Airways has been frustrated in its attempt to create a budget carrier in partnership with Tiger Airways of Singapore as the Transport Ministry has not granted approval of the plan.
The regulator has cited "technical shortcomings," the Post said.
