BANGKOK, Aug 15 – Thai Airways International (THAI) suffered a net loss of Bt8.439 billion in the second quarter of this year, mainly due to the volatile Thai currency early this year, president Sorajak Kasemsuvan said today.
He said the loss from the exchange rate alone was Bt2.964 billion while depreciation of unused aircraft posted a loss of Bt3.593 billion.
Without the exchange rate factor, the country’s flag carrier could have made a Bt4.5 billion profit despite slower business in Q2 which is normally an off-peak tourist season, he said.
THAI was also delivered seven new aircraft in Q2, the most in the airline’s history, abruptly shooting up the company’s expense, said Mr Sorajak who also blamed the global economic slowdown as another negative factor that impacted air cargo service.
Air cargo service has been affected by the economic situation since 2011 and tough competition has reduced THAI’s parcel and cargo revenue by 3.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Mr Sorajak said THAI’s operating profit in the first half of the year was Bt101.75 billion while the expenses were Bt100.207 billion.
The overall loss was Bt156 million, compared to a Bt3.691 billion profit in the same period last year.
The THAI president said the heavy loss compelled the company to lower its profit target from Bt6 billion to Bt4 billion, adding that the company would expand new routes to China and Japan in Q4, cut expenses and assign some routes to China and Japan to its sister airline, THAI Smile.
