Thai Airways International announced its path to continuous and sustainable growth under the concept of ‘Fly for The New Pride’ towards a new horizon of pride and will return to trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand within the second quarter of 2025. Last year, Thai Airways was able to generate a record high profit of 28,123.3 million baht, while in the first half of 2024, it continued to generate profits. At the same time, the chance of returning to being a state enterprise as in the past is very unlikely.
Mr. Piyasvasti Amranand, Chairman of the Business Rehabilitation Plan Executive Committee and President of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, said that over the past 3 years, Thai Airways has strictly implemented the business rehabilitation plan until it has achieved the expected objectives. This business rehabilitation plan is like a major transformation of the organization, both in terms of restructuring the organization from being a state enterprise to a new step as a private compan
y that operates efficiently, flexibly and transparently.
The restructuring of Thai Airways International has significant actions, including downsizing the organization by reducing the number of employees to approximately 14,000 people in 2022, restructuring the business operations of the Thai Smile Group to reduce duplication of operations and increase competitiveness, using digital technology such as the Thai Airways Mobile App to increase convenience for passengers and improve internal work efficiency, and using the HR Core Value system to select employees, and restructuring the financial structure by negotiating debt restructuring with creditors without cutting debt (Hair Cut) but adjusting the terms of debt repayment to be consistent with the situation, managing assets and operating costs effectively to reduce costs and increase operational flexibility.
‘Currently, shareholders’ equity according to the financial statements of the specific business as of June 30, 2024 is still negative at 40,427 million
baht. Therefore, Thai Airways is accelerating the capital restructuring plan to turn Thai Airways’ shareholders’ equity into positive equity through debt-to-equity conversion in two parts: converting the original debt of creditors into compulsory capital and granting creditors the right to convert additional debt into capital voluntarily. In addition, there will be an offering of additional common shares to persons as specified in the business rehabilitation plan, namely, existing shareholders of Thai Airways before the capital restructuring, Thai Airways employees, and private placements, respectively, to strengthen Thai Airways’ capital and prepare for the return of Thai Airways shares to trading on the Stock Exchange. After the capital restructuring under this business rehabilitation plan, it is expected that the Ministry of Finance will remain a major shareholder, but the shareholding proportion will decrease to provide opportunities for other investors. The capital restructuring process according to this
plan will be completed within 2024 before the appointment of a new board of directors. It is also expected that Thai Airways will be able to file a petition with the Central Bankruptcy Court to cancel the business rehabilitation and return Thai Airways’ shares to trading on the Stock Exchange within the second quarter of 2025,’ said Mr. Piyasvasti.
Mr. Chai Eiamsiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, said that the company’s performance in the past has continuously improved. This can be seen from various important indicators such as ASK or Available Seat Kilometers, which is an indicator of passenger production volume, Aircraft utilization or aircraft utilization rate, and Cabin factor or passenger load factor, all of which have significantly increased. These reflect the potential and strength of Thai Airways to return to full service again. As a result, Thai Airways has an increase in the number of passengers, transportation volume, and revenue. In 2023, there were
approximately 13.8 million passengers, up from 9 million in 2022, and a total revenue of 165,491.8 million baht, up from 105,212.3 million baht in 2022. Today, Thai Airways is ready to step into a new horizon of pride, “Fly for The New Pride”, for the change that will lead Thai Airways to soar further in the sky, aiming for sustainable growth by professionally revolutionizing the business and regaining the trust of Thai people as the national airline once again with the pride that we will create together, Mr. Chai added.
Mrs. Cherdchom Therdsathirasak, Chief Financial Officer of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, added that the company’s performance last year was a year of success. We were able to generate a record high profit of 28,123.3 million baht, reflecting the efficiency of the business and the company’s ability to make a profit. In addition, in the first half of 2024, the company continued to make a profit, even though the second quarter of 2024 was the low season for the airline busi
ness. The company and its subsidiaries still had an increase in revenue for the 6-month period ending June 30, 2024 of 12,630.4 million baht, an increase of 15.2% from the same period of the previous year, mainly from the resumption of regular flights and the opening of new flight routes after the COVID-19 pandemic situation eased and the cancellation of travel restrictions in many countries, resulting in a total of 7.68 million passengers in the first half of 2024 and an average cabin factor of 78.1%.
Mr. Pornchai Thiravet, the rehabilitation plan executive of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, said that at present, it must be said that the chance of Thai Airways returning to being a state enterprise is very low because if debt is converted to capital, the shareholding proportion must be considered as well, which the State Enterprise Policy Committee (SEPC) must come in and consider together with the rehabilitation plan executive. However, the privatization of Thai Airways at this time has s
hown that it can work more flexibly and profitably than in the past. This issue must be considered as well.
Source: Thai News Agency