LONDON – Flag Carrier of the Kingdom of Thailand – Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI), reported outstanding operational performances results in this latest (third) quarter of the carrier and her subsidiaries with operating profit excluding the one-off transfer at 3,920 million baht compared to 5,310 million baht loss in the same quarter last year. 

Let’s look at the breakdown of the nine month period for the airline:

Thai Airways Revenue

In this period alone over the past nine months, the total revenue for the airline stood at 32,860 million baht, which is impressively higher than the same period last year by a whopping 582%. The combined passenger and cargo revenue stood impressively at 30,890 million baht.

Thanks to the relaxing of border controls of Thailand and other countries, and also the increase in flight frequencies in the first half of the year to respective destinations: London, Frankfurt, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, Dhaka, Denpasar, Taipei, Singapore, Copenhagen, Munich and Zurich.

The airline also attributed the increase in revenue to routes such as Penang, Tokyo (Haneda) and Brussels, which were popular prior to the pandemic. 

Cabin Factor

The airline managed to fill on average 77% of their cabins per flight, a far cry from 9.9% in the same period last year. The airline and its subsidiary’s total operating expenses stood at 28.940 million baht, which is inevitably higher, at 186% compared to last year due to the increase in operational and variable costs. 44% of which was aviation fuel prices, which has risen by 80% compared to last year. 

Third Quarter (Q3)

In the third quarter, Thai Airways and its subsidiaries had financial costs totalling 3,672 million baht, which was significantly higher than last year by 2,160 million baht, due to accountancy adjustments of interest expenses.

The weakening Thai baht does not work in favour of the airline as the depreciation of the Baht led to impairment loss on assets. Thus, the Thai Flag Carrier reported one-off expenses valued at 5,212 million Thai baht and an operating net loss of 4,780 million baht. 

Q3 Loss

The loss accumulated by the airline totalled 4,785 million baht. The airline, however, and its respective subsidiaries, EBIDTA after cash paid for lease liabilities stood at 6,181 million baht while last year’s loss stood at 3,100 million baht.  

Q3 Total Assets 

At the end of the third quarter, The airline’s total assets and its subsidiaries were at 183,289 million Thai baht, which is an increase of 22,070 million baht from 31 December 2021. This total liabilities stood at 265,799 million baht. 

Q3 Flights and Cabin Factor 

The Cabin Factor only for October, at the end of the third quarter, shot up to 80.4% for both Thai Airways and THAI Smile. Whilst international traffic increased to 21,557 per day, which accounts for  30% of total inbound and outbound Suvarnabhumi International Airport passengers. This number is expected to increase during the high season in the remainder 2 months of this year.