In hopes of increasing its regional presence, Thai Airlines is set to operate the A321neo aircraft on domestic and regional routes.
Thai Airways is preparing to introduce the Airbus A321neo aircraft type into its fleet in mid-2025, which will be leased. Initially, the airline is set to induct five aircraft of the type and later acquire another five A321neo aircraft, to have a total of 10 aircraft of the type operating for the carrier.
Regional operations
As reported by FlightGlobal via AviationSource News, during last week's IATA AGM held in Istanbul, Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri stated that the airline is eyeing the A321neo aircraft to operate the airline's domestic and regional routes. At the moment, the carrier does not have any narrowbody aircraft in its fleet of its own.
However, the airline uses its regional subsidiary Thai Smile to operate regional and domestic flights. Thai Smile exclusively operates a fleet of 20 Airbus A320-200s for its operations. However, Thai Airways plans on absorbing its subsidiary, thus enabling easy integration of the 20 A320s into its mainline fleet, which will then be complemented by the new A321neos entering the fleet in 2025.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Eamsiri stated that the new A321neos would enable the airline to expand its presence regionally and serve secondary cities in Australia, China, and India. While the airline CEO is happy to induct the aircraft type as soon as next year, he states that due to the global supply chain issues and lack of delivery slots in 2024, the soonest he can hope to introduce the type into his fleet will be in 2025.
Simple Flying has reached out to Thai Airways for more details about the A321neos the airline will induct into its fleet in the future. Any response received will be updated in this article.
Coping with the demand
With passenger travel bouncing back massively all around the world, Thai Airways was also facing capacity issues as they were faced with more demand than the airline could handle. While the airline already operates a fleet of 12 Airbus A350-900s, the carrier confirms that it has obtained 11 more aircraft of the type on a lease, of which two have already been delivered to the airline. The remaining nine will be inducted into the fleet during the first quarter of 2024.
Photo: KITTIKUN YOKSAP | Shutterstock
Furthermore, the airline has had to reactivate its older Airbus A330-300s and Boeing 777-200ERs due to the travel demand recovering faster than expected. Eamisiri mentioned during the AGM that he has plans to retrofit the aircraft with the airline's standard offerings however, the airline is facing shortages of MRO slots.
Moreover, the CEO stated that right now, his priority is to capture the rebounding travel market rather than focus on retrofitting his aircraft and operating with reduced capacity at a time when demand is clearly present.
Outlook
It is evident that Thai Airways is facing massive demand for both international and regional travel. The airline has already taken steps to better position itself in the market as it expands its route network and increases capacity.
Despite the carrier being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and having to shrink its fleet and network size considerably to survive at the time, it is great to see that the airline is now able to increase its fleet size using new aircraft types which are technologically more advanced and efficient, making them more economical to operate. The airline recently suggested that it is looking to order a further 30 widebody aircraft, which shows that the airline is on track with its recovery.
Source: FlightGlobal and AviationSource News.
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