Thailand national flag carrier Thai Airways has reported revenue of 37,008 million baht higher than last year’s of 32,860 million baht. This growth translates to a 12.6% jump year-on-year.
Passengers & Load Factor
The airline carried 3.27 from the beginning of the year. Thai Airways carried 2.19 million and 1.08 million carried by THAI Smile Airways.
Thai Airways recorded an average cabin factor of 77.1%, while its subsidiary Thai Smile Airways at 80.9%. In last year’s third quarter, it stood at 77%.
Expenses
Thai Airways and Thai Smile reported total expenses, which do not include one-time transactions at 29,289 million baht. This is however expected, and it is higher than in 2022 which stood at 28,940 million baht.
There are reasons for the increase; a jump in variable costs and fuel receipts, which cost 11,995 million baht, or 41% of the entire airline’s expenses.
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Operating Profit
The airline reported a healthy operating profit, before financial costs and excluding one-time transactions at 7,719 million baht. This is a huge improvement from the third quarter of last year (2022), which stood at 3,920 million baht.
In sum, THAI and its subsidiaries recorded a net profit of 1,546 million baht. This is a huge improvement from last year when the airline reported a net loss of 4,780 million baht.
The airline’s EBITDA or Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization after cash paid for aircraft lease payment including Power by the Hour which raked to 8,360 million baht.
A successful 2023
The first nine months of 2023 have been brighter than one would expect. THAI and THAI Smile reported a total revenue of 115,897 million baht. This is a far cry figure of 66,115 million baht reported in the same quarter last year.
Moreover, THAI and THAI Smile Airways reported an operating profit before financial costs (also excluding financial costs) of 29,330 million baht. This is an improvement from the same quarterly in 2022 which reported the operating loss at 548 million baht.
Fleet
As of the time of writing the airline THAI now operates a total of 68 aircraft, a drastic change from just above 100 pre-pandemic times.
The fleet consists of 20 narrow-body aircraft, owned by THAI Smile, which is slated to be transferred to Thai Airways by year’s end. There are 48 wide-bodies serving with the carrier today.
The airline also welcomed 2 leased A350 in September and October respectively, signaling the airline remains bullish on growth.
Aircraft Utilization
From the beginning of the year, the aircraft utilization of both THAI and THAI Smile stood at 12 hours per day. To be very specific, THAI recorded a utilzation of 13.7 hours per day and THAI Smile Airways’ average aircraft utilization was 8.2 hours per day.
THAI Smile’s aircraft utilization seems lower than expected, which also explains why the airline will be merging under the THAI brand.
Passenger Production
Passenger production or ASK increased by 53.4%, while passenger traffic (RPK) increased by 100.7%, which affects an average cabin factor of 80%, which is way higher than in 2022 during the same quarter at 61.1%.
All in all, what matters is that the airline is carrying more passengers. In fact, with both airlines combined, they carried 10.13 million, which is an astonishing increase of 77.4% or 6.50 million by THAI and 3.63 million by THAI Smile Airways.
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