Thailand's embattled national carrier, Thai Airways International Plc (THAI), said it was looking to add 9 more aircraft to its fleet as its passenger load factor continues to rise.
THAI, which is still undergoing its bankruptcy restructuring process after its already loss-making business was severely impacted by the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, said it was looking to bring into service some of the parked aircrafts it has in its fleet and it was also looking to lease as many as 4 Airbus A350-900s during 2023.
Suvadhana Sibunruang, the acting Chief Executive Officer of THAI, said the plan was to bring in service as many as 5 (badly) parked aircrafts that can be seen at Suvarnabhumi Airport tarmac, into service.
The 5 aircrafts that are set to leave the tarmac after nearly 2-years of being parked and their engines and other parts not being covered properly, are 3 widebody Airbus A330-300s and 2 widebody Boeing 777-200ERs.
THAI has parked many of its aircrafts at Suvarnabhumi Airport for the past 2-years and many of these aircrafts have not been properly covered to prevent corrosion, unlike other airlines that sealed their aircrafts during the pandemic in order to avoid corrosion in the humid climate of Southeast Asia.
Suvadhana said that the plans to increase the fleet size have been forwarded to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) and the Ministry of Transport, and the hopes are that the approval from these 2 agencies would be approved as early as Q1 of 2023.
THAI, whose shares continue to be suspended from trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), said that it aims to add these aircrafts to popular routes such as Japan, Korea, Singapore and many cities in Europe including preparing to support the return of Chinese tourists in the very near future.
Currently THAI has 61 aircrafts that are in operation including:
- 12 Airbus A350s
- 4 Boeing B777-200ERs
- 17 Boeing B777-300ERs
- 8 Boeing B787s
- 20 Airbus A320-200 aircraft for Thai Smile Airways.
At present, Thai Airways also plans to procure 10 additional aircrafts for THAI Smile Airways, which will focus on aircraft such as Boeing B777
"Now passenger travel is recovering by leaps and bounds. On average, the cabin factor of Thai Airways is 85%, which is considered very high. The same is true for Thai Smile Airways, which has a consistently high number of passengers and was assigned to fly domestic routes including international routes in the short-term root to be a feeder for Thai Airways, therefore, it is necessary to find more aircraft to be sufficient to meet the needs of passengers," Suvadhana said.
In addition, the overall picture of Thai Airways' fleet is currently at 61 aircrafts, which is down from the pre-pandemic when it entered the rehabilitation plan with about 100 aircrafts, but it was found that the aircraft utilization was high and they are being used on an average of 12 hours per day which is considered quite effective.
Up for Sale
THAI, Suvadhana said, still has assets in the category of aircraft up for sale, with as many as 22 aircrafts that are on the block, which is still in the process of negotiating with potential buyers.
The aircrafts up for sale are:
- 6 Airbus A380s
- 2 Airbus A340-500s
- 2 Airbus A340-600s
- 6 Boeing B777-300s
- 6 Boeing B777-200s
Previously, 19 aircrafts have been sold, pending delivery, including:
- 1 Airbus A300-600
- 1 Boeing B737-100
- 12 Boeing B747-400
- 1 Airbus A340-500
- 1Airbus A340-600
There are also 5 aircraft that have already been transferred to the loan guarantors, namely 4 Airbus A330s parked at Suvarnabhumi Airport and 1 Airbus A330 parked at Don Mueang Airport
However previously, THAI planned to refurbish 6 Airbus A380 aircraft that are parked but have not yet been sold in order to accommodate higher passenger travel. THAI says that such type of aircraft can accommodate a large number of passengers, but Airbus has said that trying to fly an aircraft of such size that has been parked for 2 years would be time-consuming to bring them back to flying condition.
THAI said that it could take time to check the condition, and various checks could take up to about 7-8 months in order to be ready to return to fly safely, and the cost of such a move would be in billions of Baht.
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