Thai Airways International (THAI), the country’s flag carrier and largest airline, reported a net profit of 51 billion baht for the first nine months of the year on Monday. It was a drastic turnaround from the 49 billion baht loss from a year earlier.
The key driver of the airway’s earnings was profit from debt restructuring, including sales of equities and assets, the statement said.
Thai Airways said it gained 60 billion baht from the debt restructuring process, which comprises “adjustments to defaulted interest, derecognition, and adjustment of financial liabilities.”
However, as the Covid-19 pandemic still halted cross-border travel, the airway reported a 66-per-cent year-on-year drop on its air travel service revenue.
During the first nine months of 2021, Thai Airways were unable “to resume its normal flights” because international flights had been canceled since March 2020.
Although the airline could earn some revenue from domestic flights through its subsidiary Thai Smile, the demand was relatively low in light of local Covid-19 outbreak nationwide, the statement said.
“Most of THAI’s revenue came from international freight forwarding services.”
According to the statement, Thai Airways will upgrade its business into “a private high-quality full-service carrier with a strong Thai brand” following the restructuring plan.
Previously the airline announced sale of 42 aircrafts and that it would be letting go of 4,250 employees by the end of this year to reduce costs. (Read more here)