Thai Air earnings jump as travel boom boosts ticket sales

Thai Airways International Pcl’s full-year earnings jumped as booming air travel demand boosted ticket sales. 

Net profit in 2023 rose to 28.1 billion baht ($782 million), rebounding from 272 million baht loss the year before, the airline said in an exchange filing Friday. That was the carrier’s second-highest annual net income after a 55 billion baht profit in 2021 when it booked an 81.5 billion baht gain from a debt restructuring, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Operating profit before one-time items last year rose to 24.6 billion baht from a 4.59 billion baht loss in 2022. Total operating revenue surged 53% to 161 billion baht, it said. The carrier didn’t provide the fourth-quarter earnings. 

Passenger numbers hit 13.76 million, up 53% from 2022, when Thailand had just started to ease Covid travel restrictions. The airline also had another one-time gain of 3.96 billion baht from debt restructuring compared with a 5.24 billion baht loss from similar transactions a year earlier.  

It’s just the third annual profit since 2013 for the nation’s flaghship carrier, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020. Most creditors agreed to extend terms and cut some interest repayments as part of a rehabilitation plan, and the carrier plans to exit from its court-supervised debt restructuring earlier than scheduled in late 2024. 

Thai Air this month agreed to order 45 Boeing Co. aircraft, with an option that would increase the total number to 80, to expand its capacity on rising passenger demand. 

The carrier plans to add three new Airbus A350-900 aircraft this quarter to meet rising bookings, according to its statement. It reaffirmed the completion of its capital restructuring in 2024 to help boost its financial status and enable its stock to resume trading on the Thai exchange in 2025. The shares have been suspended from trading since May 2021.