Thai Airways International (THAI) has confirmed the order for seven more A330-300 mid-size jetliners with the European planemaker Airbus as part of its fleet upgrade.

Montree Jumrieng, managing director of THAI’s technical department, signed a memorandum of understanding with John Leahy, Airbus’s chief operating officer for customers, on Wednesday at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed though THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand described the prices as “very good”. After the flag carrier’s board agreed on June 18 to acquire the wide-body jets, he said the price was 31 billion baht excluding engines, seats, inflight entertainment system and spare engines.

An A330-300 carries a current catalogue price of US$212.4 million.

The aircraft will be delivered to THAI during three time slots, two by the end of 2011, three in 2012 and two in 2013, joining an existing fleet of 20 A330-300s flying to destinations across the Asia-Pacific region.

The seven Airbus planes are part of 15 new wide-body jets the flag carrier is acquiring as replacements to ageing machines over the next four years when the airline will retire 25 old aircraft including several B747-400 jumbo jets now used on long-haul routes.

As part of the same project, THAI will acquire eight long-range Boeing B777- 300ERs through leasing.

Dr Piyasvasti said negotiations with lessors for the jets should be finalised by the end of next month.

The Boeings, each capable of carrying 350 passengers, expect to be leased for 15 years for 79 billion baht.

Airbus said it has more than 1,000 orders for various versions of the A330 aircraft. Almost 700 have already been delivered and the aircraft are currently flying with at least 80 operators.

source – http://www.bangkokpost.com

Demand for flights between Thailand and South Africa has declined since the end of the football World Cup, but the sporting event has revitalised the route, say Thai Airways International.

Pruet Boophakam, executive vice-president for commercial affairs, said there was a “slight slowdown” in demand for THAI’s Bangkok-Johannesburg services with advance bookings at 50% to 60% of capacity.

During the football tournament, which took place from June 11 to July 11, THAI’s average capacity on the route was 80% to 90% with some full flights.

Despite the drop in demand, the carrier expects advance bookings to pick up with the start of South Africa’s peak holiday season which is attracting foreign tourists, said Mr Pruet.

THAI’s code-share with All Nippon Airways and South African Airways have helped the airline fill seats on its Boeing 777-200ERs deployed on the Bangkok-Johannesburg route.

The carrier operates three flights a week on the route with the twin-engine long-range jet which has 292 seats, 30 in business and 262 in economy.

At the same time, THAI’s recent shift in its marketing focus away from Thailand to cash in on international traffic opportunities has improved its ability to sell tickets to South Africa.

The strategy means the airline can feed global passengers into its international network by transiting through Thailand.

Mr Pruet said the airline was committed to aggressively marketing the Bangkok-Johannesburg route, which resumed on June 2 after being taken out of service for 18 months. THAI lost about 900 million baht on the route from October 2006 to January last year.

“We will never allow history to repeat itself. There must not be any more failure,” said Mr Pruet.

The airline will continue with the current frequencies of four flights a week.

“We will work toward stimulating more demand and adding more flights later. The outlook is pretty good.”

THAI shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 30.50 baht, down 50 satang, in trade worth 220.13 million baht.

source – www.bangkokpost.com