Big Boeing Order Soon

Boeing appears poised to become a provider of new commercial aircraft to Thai Airways as part of an ongoing trade proposal.

Discussions of a future Boeing purchase align with Thailand’s efforts to mitigate escalating trade tensions and seek mutually beneficial solutions with the United States.

As part of this, Thai Airways, the flag carrier, plans to purchase as many as 80 aircraft from Boeing in the coming years to enhance its fleet and fly long into the future.

Details on the proposed purchase of new Boeing jets remain scarce, and much of the potential future contract will depend on how the trade wars unfold.

Boeing Supports A New Era

While a new deal would further support Thai Airways, thanks to previously agreed-upon orders, Boeing is already playing a significant role in the development of the national carrier.

Driven by the purchase of the Boeing 787 over recent years, the Dreamliner will help enable growth in new markets while also facilitating potential capacity ramp-ups in existing ones.

Thai Airways says the 787s alone will help cut emissions by a further 25% compared to the aircraft they are replacing. The decision to buy these jets follows the mass retirement of older, less efficient planes in recent years.

The national carrier had arguably one of the more complex fleet portfolio, featuring jets such as the A380, A340, and 747, among others. The mismatch, paired with poor economic conditions, led to an unfavourable financial position.

Now that the carrier has restructured, the primary focus is on growth, and there needs to be a way to not only replace the capacity lost through the retirement of older planes but also to find ways to meet prospective future demand that’ll emerge.

Through these ongoing discussions between Thailand and the United States, Boeing could emerge as a major winner, ensuring it plays a leading role in supporting the future of Thai Airways.

U.S Flights Also Coming?

These discussions about another new aircraft order with Boeing follow reporting earlier this year that highlighted Thai Airways’ interest in recommencing flights to the United States, finally.

In 2015, the safety ratings of Thailand-based carriers were downgraded, and the airline was reclassified from Category 1 to Category 2, which affected its ability to fly to specific markets.

While Thai Airways wasn’t deemed an unsafe airline when this change was made a decade ago, there were still implications regarding how the airline was viewed on a global scale, and indeed from the United States.

In April, the Federal Aviation Administration informed Thai Airways that it had secured the all-important Category 1 aviation safety rating once more after a decade.

As a result, the revised change means that Thai Airways is once again permitted to resume flying to the United States.