According to Chief Executive Chai Eamsiri, Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) will soon release a Request for Proposals for 30 widebodies and an unspecified number of narrowbodies. The airline confirmed additional plans to lease 12 A321-200N aircraft, with delivery scheduled for 2025 and 2026.
The tenders will be issued to Airbus and Boeing in the upcoming days, according to Chai. He emphasized that Thai Airways is planning to extend its narrowbody fleet to 30–40 aircraft over the next ten years, however he did not specify how many narrowbodies will be involved in the process. The company intends to add the twelve A321neo aircraft in the following several years and currently flies twenty A320-200 aircraft through its Thai Smile (WE, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) subsidiary, which is due to be incorporated back into the mainline.
A market where, as Chai acknowledged, the airline’s position is currently weak, the expanded narrowbody fleet will boost Thai’s presence in South-East Asia, India, southern China, and southern Japan.
Thai Airways is currently limited by the availability of aircraft since the Thai market is recovering more quickly than anticipated. According to Chai, the airline also intends to source about ten new widebodies for dry lease, with delivery beginning in the first quarter of 2024, in addition to the planned RFP for 30 widebodies.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, the airline now flies six B777-200ERs, seventeen B777-300(ER)s, six B787-8s, and two B787-9s in addition to three A330-300s, fourteen A350-900s, and seventeen B777-300(ER)s. It anticipates having 56 widebody aircraft by the first quarter of 2024.
Chai said that if the airline’s performance is strong enough, it will attempt to relist on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) by the first quarter of 2025 or earlier. The airline entered bankruptcy restructuring during the COVID-19 epidemic.
