Thai Air posts fourth-straight profit as China numbers grow

Thai Airways International Pcl reported a fourth-straight quarterly profit as passenger numbers continued to improve in the wake of Covid, with extra impetus coming from travelers from China. 

Net income for the three months through September was 1.54 billion baht ($43 million), rebounding from a loss of 4.79 billion baht a year earlier, the airline said in an exchange filing Friday. 

Passenger numbers hit 3.27 million, up 22% from the same quarter last year, when Thailand had just started to ease Covid travel restrictions. Despite being a low season for tourism, visitor numbers from China rose 13% from the previous quarter to 1.05 million, according to government data.

However, Europe and China bookings for the typically busy winter season have been “weaker than expected” as the economic slowdown has impacted demand from those key markets, Piyasvasti Amranand, chairman of the airline’s debt rehabilitation administrator, said at a press briefing.

Thai Air posted losses every year bar two since 2013 and 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 will lease about 23 new aircraft through 2025 to help its flight and route expansion, Piyasvasti said, adding that competition is intensifying.  

The carrier’s operating profit before finance cost and one-time items surged 97% last quarter to 7.72 billion baht.