Airline News
THAI cuts fat: more sell offs
August 10th 2015
Thai Airways International’s (THAI’s) board is to vote on a plan in September for the sale of 30 properties; 19 overseas and 11 local office and staff residence buildings, to further reduce costs, the flag carrier’s chief, Charamporn Jotikasthira, told the Bangkok Post last week. Among the first properties to be sold are its office building in Sydney and the staff residence in London, he said. Read More »
"It will help cut the costs of management and maintenance for these assets. The sale of THAI's headquarters on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road is not a plan for the time being, but is among last choices," Charamporn added.
Charamporn revealed THAI would launch a new revenue management system in October or November which would allow it to monitor fares of other carriers and adjust its own on an hourly basis to sell tickets at the best prices. The THAI chief said he hoped to raise revenues by approximately eight billion baht ($224 million) a year using the improved system and added he was considering the introduction of a network management system to enhance THAI’s flight schedules and aircraft deployment.
THAI suffered a net loss of 15.6 billion baht last year and 12 billion the year earlier. It was able to reverse course in the first quarter this year when it posted a net profit of 4.54 billion baht, helped by a robust travel industry, forex gains and cost controls. The legacy carrier has gone through several rounds of fleet and network reductions over the past twelve months, including last month’s announcement that Los Angeles (its sole U.S. destination) and Rome would be axed from October.
THAI’s competitors are seeking ever greater market share at the carrier’s Suvarnabhumi hub in Bangkok. Emirates Airline last week said it would introduce a fourth daily A380 service between Bangkok and Dubai (in addition to double daily B777-300ERs) from December 1. Qatar Airways has announced it would add a second daily A380 between Bangkok and Doha, in addition to double daily -300ERs, from September 16.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is likely to gain market share after signing a landmark $1.25 million deal with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to increase tourism from priority markets including the United Arab Emirates, UK, Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and South Africa, all key THAI inbound markets. More competition is on the horizon when Lufthansa budget subsidiary, Eurowings, will start serving Suvarnabhumi and Phuket from December.
