Thai Airways to delay taking A380s to Dec 2012

[bigdelta 46]

BANGKOK, July 23 (Reuters) - Thai Airways International THAI.BK said on Thursday it had negotiated with Airbus (EAD.PA) to delay the delivery of six A380 superjumbos to December 2012 from late 2010 to reflect weak airline business.

 

"We want to postpone the delivery as far as possible to reflect the current market conditions," Chairman Ampon Kittiampon told reporters after its board meeting.

 

"We have agreed with Airbus for the delay," he said adding the first A380 would replace Boeing 747 plane, which would be decommissioned in 2012.

 

The airline, majority owned by the state, is among several in Asia struggling to cope with reduced air travel because of the economic crisis and the latest flu outbreak. It was also hit by political instability in Thailand that cut tourist numbers.

 

The airline has also ordered eight A330 aircraft, six of them to be delivered this year, and the delivery of the six was on schedule, Ampon said.

 

The percentage of seats sold in the first half was below its target of 70 percent, and Thai Airways planned to boost the number to at least 72 percent in the second half, he said.

 

The airline is in the process of restructuring after reporting a record net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008. But it reported a net profit of 7.87 billion baht ($232 million) in the first quarter, boosted by a foreign exchange gain and lower costs.

 

On Thursday, Thai Airways shares were up 4.7 percent, outperforming a 2.3 percent rise of the overall Thai stock market.

[MIGHTYONE 309]

Flew Thai air last trip. Was so disappointed. Firstly they cancelled my 9.30pm flight offering me a day flight instead. 12 hour flight with no entertainment in this day and age is very poor. Food and service is still ok however.

[WannaGoBack 0]

BANGKOK, July 23 (Reuters) - Thai Airways International THAI.BK said on Thursday it had negotiated with Airbus (EAD.PA) to delay the delivery of six A380 superjumbos to December 2012 from late 2010 to reflect weak airline business.

 

The airline has also ordered eight A330 aircraft, six of them to be delivered this year, and the delivery of the six was on schedule, Ampon said.

 

The interesting part of this is that TG's first A380's were delayed from late 2009 delivery to 2011 due to a variety of issues Airbus encountered in the construction of this a/c. The A330's were part of a compensation package agreed to in February, 2007 between TG and Airbus. Each A330 was being discounted by $10m USD as compensation for the A380 delays. I wonder if TG are hoping to have their cake and eat it too as they now delay the A380 deliveries but are forging ahead with receiving their A330's...... Same, same but different!

[joekicker 53]

I wonder if TG are hoping to have their cake and eat it too as they now delay the A380 deliveries but are forging ahead with receiving their A330's...... Same, same but different!

 

THAI has stated many times in many ways they don't want the A380s AT ALL any more, they only signed the purchase contract on an impulse, and an ill-considered one. I predict that they will never fly that airplane. And it's nothing to do with Airbus-Boeing, etc, THAI was one of the movers who brought Airbus to Asia, and they like Airbus. They've just figured they don't want these big airplanes. FWIW, I think they're right, THAI have never done well with big planes of any kind - DC10s and 747s were constant money-losers.

 

I couldn't figure why they bought the 380s, I can only imagine there was a non-airline reason involved, such as many new Mercedes in many driveways one bright, sunny contract-signing morning.

 

Now THAI is trying to figure how to cancel or pass on that purchase. There are lots of ways, even including leasing, which THAI has done before with big aircraft.

[blacknight 5]

I flew Thai recently and going by my experience they will be lucky still to have a business in 2012. Their planes are old and tired, the food is crap and the inflight entertainment is non existant.

 

Now that there is a glut of good middle eastern carriers with state of the art equipment why would you bother giving business to Thai. Even China makes their service look dated in comparison.

[joekicker 53]

I flew Thai recently and going by my experience they will be lucky still to have a business in 2012. Their planes are old and tired, the food is crap and the inflight entertainment is non existant.

 

The old airplanes COULD be made to look non-old, but it seems THAI doesn't want to do that, either. They say they do, but they don't even have a budget. Meanwhile, for a number of bad reasons that all have come together at the same time, they can't get credit to buy new ones, either.

 

The airline has a new, non-career, non-THAI president. I'll give him a little time to show his stuff. It's a very difficult place to move, inside the THAI culture. Very powerful interests are raking in scads of money from the airline, and they do NOT want change of any kind. It's going to be a bumpy ride for a while.

 

.

[jacko 8,815]

The old airplanes COULD be made to look non-old, but it seems THAI doesn't want to do that, either. They say they do, but they don't even have a budget. Meanwhile, for a number of bad reasons that all have come together at the same time, they can't get credit to buy new ones, either.

 

The airline has a new, non-career, non-THAI president. I'll give him a little time to show his stuff. It's a very difficult place to move, inside the THAI culture. Very powerful interests are raking in scads of money from the airline, and they do NOT want change of any kind. It's going to be a bumpy ride for a while.

 

.

It's a little more worrying that there might be an exceptional bump for an aircraft first.