Thai Airways takes off

After being battered by the pandemic and the collapse in air travel, the national airline is tackling its debts with an optimistic chief executive at the helm, writes Nareerat Wiriyapong

- Nareerat Wiriyapong

Fresh from completing a years-long business rehabilitation, Thai Airways International (THAI) is unveiling its “Fly for the New Pride” brand campaign, operating with a reduced debt burden and new revenue generators as the company expects to resume trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

The flag carrier is celebrating its 65th anniversary by lowering its liability from roughly 400 billion baht when creditors filed for business rehabilitation with the Central Bankruptcy Court in 2020. The airline has roughly 80 billion baht in liabilities now, said chief executive Chai Eamsiri.

The remaining debt is scheduled to be serviced through 2036, with different amounts to be paid each year.

For this year, THAI has roughly 10 billion baht of debt to service and already reserved the liquidity for the payment, said Mr Chai, who took office on Feb 1, 2023.

The carrier divested 10 billion baht of assets, such as land, buildings and aircraft, and lowered its staff headcount to 14,000 from almost 30,000, which comprised 23% of the company’s total cost.

To remain competitive with peers, the carrier aims to maintain the ratio of headcount expense to total cost at 13%, meaning no staff increases are on the cards.

Last year THAI reported total revenue of 188 billion baht, an increase of 16.7% year-on-year. The airline posted a net loss of 26.9 billion baht, resulting from a one-time accounting loss of 45.3 billion baht from the conversion of debt to equity under the rehabilitation plan, which the company completed in November 2024.

The majority of the accounting losses, roughly 40.6 billion baht, were attributed to the exercise of debt-to-equity conversion rights by creditors at prices suggested by the rehabilitation plan, which were lower than fair value.