Thai Air May Halt Flight Expansion Plans on Aircraft Shortages

(Bloomberg) – Thai Airways International PCL may delay flight and route expansion plans, because the country’s flag carrier has not received enough additional passenger jets.

Chai Eamsiri, Chairman of the Executive Board, said the airline was trying to rent a large -body aircraft for expanded European service. The authority rely on the aircraft rented as a bridge before the delivery of aircraft purchased in 2027.

While Boeing and Airbus are struggling to meet the demand, the world -wide airlines struggling with new aircraft continents are forced to keep old planes in their fleets and pay for expensive rentals. Aircraft bottlenecks serve as a restriction on the growth of the industry.

He said that for the next two years, Thai Airways has followed “an important seat capacity shortage” that needed to meet the growth plan. “If we cannot rent new wide -body planes until the first half of 2026, we will have to stop the opening of new routes and flights.”

Chai said Thai Airways will add about 17 new narrow -bodied passenger planes by the end of 2026. The airline said that new aircraft will be used mostly for service in Asia, as it accelerates the pushing of Bangkok into a regional center to connect flights to European cities.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, he won about half of the carrier income from the Asian roads. European flights represented one third of its income

According to Chai, earnings from the basic operations in the second half of the year are expected to remain “strong” in high passenger demand for European, India and Australia flights.

The second quarter net income of the flag carrier rose to 12.1 billion baht ($ 373 million), including a earnings of a year ago at a financial costs of less than 306 million baht and the termination of aircraft rental agreements. Revenue rose to 51 billion baht, a 14% leap compared to the previous year.

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