Thai Airways has been through a lot recently, including a significant restructuring. However, now the company is ready to emerge into its next era.
The Bangkok-based carrier seeks proposals from Airbus and Boeing for its next aircraft order.
A deal that could see as many as 30 new widebodies purchased would come from either Airbus or Boeing, with the ambition to see first deliveries by 2026.
Thai Airways currently flies Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 as part of its next-generation.
Replacing ageing aircraft with new planes is a big ambition for the company as it finds ways to alleviate pressures financially and cut costs.
As such, its fleet has changed drastically through the years with the removal of quad-engined planes such as the 747, A340 and A380. While these aircraft offered Thai Airways fantastic capacity abilities, the negatives outweighed the minor positives.
Ideally, Thai Airways would acquire these planes as soon as possible. However, several other companies have the same idea. As such, there’s undoubtedly been a race to acquire desirable and available slots in recent months with an influx of orders and planning for executives worldwide.
Some companies have been forced to use wet-leasing aircraft to solve immediate capacity needs. Lufthansa notably is an airline that’s delved heavily into this. Meanwhile, Qantas has sourced two Finnair A330s as well to help with international capacity.
