Thai Airways is negotiating a widebody purchase for up to thirty aircraft with Airbus and Boeing. On Sunday, CEO Chai Eamsiri spoke to Bloomberg while attending the IATA AGM in Istanbul.
Additional Airbus A321neo aircraft for Thai Smile, the airline’s low-cost subsidiary, are also on the airline’s shopping list. Thai Airways is looking for an Airbus or Boeing widebody deal.
The fleet plans come after Thai underwent a significant reorganization during the Covid crisis, during which it reduced its fleet and reorganized its balance sheet.
Since late last year, a long-term strategy has been developed, and Thai may even contemplate bringing back additional storage airliners to meet demand.
The airline reported operating 65 planes and having 21 in storage in its Q1 financial presentation in May. Thai still operates six Boeing 777-200s and seventeen Boeing 777-300ERs despite selling six Boeing 777-300s. These triple sevens, of which the 200 are on average sixteen years old, will be replaced. -300ERs have been in service for just over five years.
Thai will formally request proposals from Boeing and Airbus, although it’s thought that the A350 stands to win the competition. Thai already has thirteen A350-900s in service and two of them have been reassigned to the network to fly to China and Australia. Deliveries of the new aircraft should begin in 2026.
Thai Smile is a potential option for the A320neo family.
Twenty leased A320ceos, with an average age of nearly ten years, make up Thai Smile’s fleet. Aircraft from the A320neo family could take their place. It is unknown whether Thai Airlines prefers to purchase them directly from Airbus, in which case the airline would be required to enter the queue because the A320neo family is completely sold out through 2029. Leasing is an alternative.
Both the chief commercial officers of Airbus and Boeing are allegedly in Istanbul for talks with Thai. If they move quickly, one of the airframers could announce a deal at the Paris Airshow in two weeks.
