BANGKOK, 14 May 2015 – Thai Airways has reported a return to profit in the first quarter of 2015, owing to the reduced fuel price, improved economy in many countries and the airline’s restructuring efforts.
Thai Airways president Charamporn Jotikasthira on Wednesday partly attributed the 4.549 billion baht profit to the cessation of flights in loss-making routes that included the Bangkok-Johannesburg, Bangkok-Moscow and Phuket-Seoul routes. He explained that the airline had also been operating aircraft types that better fitted market demand. Owing to the economic recovery in many countries, the recovery of the Thai tourism sector and the airline’s optimization of income generation, the number of passengers increased 17% to roughly 5.6 million passengers, compared to the same period of last year.
Revenue rose 1.668 billion baht whereas expenses declined by some 6 billion baht, largely because of the drop in fuel price.
A 2.08 baht profit per share was realized, compared to a loss of 1.21 baht per share when Thai Airways saw a loss of 2.6 billion baht in the first quarter of 2014.
