Thailand’s biggest airline, Thai Airways International, has laid out plans to expand its fleet after seeking bankruptcy protection in 2020 due to inefficient management and the Covid-19 pandemic which hindered its progress.
According to a Nikkei
interview with the Airline’s CEO, Chai Eamsiri, who has over four decades of experience in aviation, the company urgently needs to grow. “We have to grow, otherwise, we will not be able to compete with other international airlines,” he said.
The airline plans to double its fleet after its size shrunk to 65 planes under its previous restructuring plan, as it enters a new phase of expansion.
“I think we do well on continental flights, like Europe and Australia, but we have to improve Western [routes] — I mean India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.” He emphasized his focus is on breaking through to the Indian market since the country has one of the largest populations in the world and has strong cultural and economic ties with Thailand.
According to Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, around 990,000 Indians visited the nation in 2022, second only to Malaysia. Initial figures for the first five months of this year placed India among the top visitors to Thailand, with more than 600,000 of its citizens visiting Thailand until May.
To enter the new Indian market, Chai plans to expand Thai Airways’ fleet to 113 by 2027. However, connectivity to smaller Indian cities will be facilitated by ”small, narrow-body” aircrafts, which can carry fewer passengers but will be more efficient for short-distance flights.
Source: Laotian Times And Nikkei Asia
