News
THAI to reconsider aircraft orders
September 21st 2018
State-controlled Thai Airways International (THAI) has said it would reconsider the fleet renewal plan after the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said the THB100 billion (US$3.1 billion) proposal was too expensive for the struggling carrier. Read More »
“We will take time one more month to revise the plan. Then we will propose the new plan to the transport minister and NESDB for consideration,” THAI president, Sumeth Damrongchaitham, has told The Nation.
THAI was due to place a wide body order last December, but the board did not approve the proposal because of the airline’s dire financial state. “We are still working on the final list. It’ll be mostly wide body aircraft from Airbus or Boeing to replace the B747-400 and B777-200 fleets. We must simplify the fleet,” THAI VP for commercial strategy and alliances, Krittaphon Chantalitanon, has told Orient Aviation.
THAI operates ten aircraft types: 15 A330-300s, 12 A350-900s, six A380s, 32 B777s (-200s, -200ERs, -300s and -300ERs), 10 B747-400s and eight B787s (six -8s, two -9s). Its Thai Smile subsidiary has 20 A320ceo. THAI’s B787 fleet has been crippled by recurring Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 issues with the carrier forced to frequently ground its Dreamliners. “We need to take that into consideration when making fleet and order decisions,” Krittaphon said. “The issue has been going on for almost two years.” The THAI strategy VP said the airline was “very satisfied” with the performance of its A350-900 and B777-300ER fleets.
Separately, THAI this week announced it would replace an A330 wide body jet with a Thai Smile A320 on the Hong Kong-Phuket route from October, marking the first appearance of the budget subsidiary in supposedly high-yielding Hong Kong.
Earlier this month, THAI said it would cut back capacity to Australia. From October 28, the Star Alliance founding member will reduce Bangkok-Melbourne from double daily A350 flights to eleven times a week, Bangkok-Sydney from eleven weekly B747 frequencies to daily, Brisbane from daily B787-8 service to four times a week. Meanwhile, THAI will swap from the B787-8 to the A330-300 on Bangkok-Perth, although it will maintain daily flights on that route.
