Thai Airways Plans To Grow Fleet

Thai Airways is charting a course for growth, reaffirming its stance that adding more aircraft to its fleet will be essential.

As global air travel is expected to rise in the coming years and many more people will fly around Thailand and neighbouring locations alongside long-haul travel, Thai Airways must respond.

For Thai Airways, the plan has been clear: The 77 total active aircraft will be increased to some 90 planes by the end of the 2025 calendar year.

The airline says that its fleet will grow to almost 150 aircraft over the next ten years as it places greater reliance on adding widebody aircraft, among other types.

Thai Airways hopes that by adding further widebody aircraft, it’ll be able to better cater to demand on long-haul markets with state-of-the-art next-gen aircraft.

Earlier this year, Thai Airways confirmed that it would purchase additional Boeing 787 jets after a long-winded process to find a new widebody aircraft to fuel expansion efforts.

That substantial order included 45 units, and the 787-9 was selected, the middle ground variant that has been a resounding success for many airlines.

By implementing more Boeing 787s, Thai Airways targets fuel reduction and thus emissions by up to 25% compared to the aircraft it will replace in the future.

While the 787s will be used across the long-haul network, Thai Airways knows that the hefty fuel efficiency paired with the higher capacity means the plane could also be helpful in markets such as Asia.

The growth of the Thai Airways fleet follows a restructuring, but even more so, the company has retired several high-capacity but inefficient aircraft types over the years.

When considering the current Thai Airways fleet, the carrier must consider parting ways with the 777 and A330 fleet in the future, and purchases such as securing additional 787s clearly demonstrate the long-term intent.