Thai Airways may restore shelved Airbus A380s

Thai Airways International is thinking about adding more planes to its fleet by turning on two Airbus A380 planes that have been in storage for years. This would help meet the growing demand for flights.

The airline used to run a fleet of six A380s, but they were all grounded when the pandemic halted commercial aviation and pushed Thai Airways into bankruptcy. In 2020, the Bankruptcy Court authorised a proposal to restructure the airline's debt.

According to Airline Commercial Chief Korakot Chatasingha, the airline is "closely examining" the cost-effectiveness of recovering the aircraft, but has not yet made a decision.

"As you are aware, the cost of bringing them... and returning them to service is very high," Korakot said at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Presidents Assembly in Bangkok.

Restoring them to flight will be expensive, but Thai's financial recovery is allegedly proceeding well. Thai Airways said today that the number of flights increased by 583 percent, which led to a 583 percent rise in earnings for the third quarter.

Four A380s in the fleet were leased rather than owned by the airline. All four will be restored to their respective lessors. Two of the aircraft are owned by Thai Airways but have been grounded for over three years, causing them to collect dust.

According to the report, the money was made by increasing the number of flights and adding new routes to London, Frankfurt, Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, Dhaka, Denpasar, Taipei, Singapore, Copenhagen, Munich, Zurich, Tokyo, and Brussels.

In 2023, Korakat said that the airline would "review its fleet planning" as part of its post-pandemic development activities.

Thai Airways sold five disused Airbus A340s that had been held for thirteen years in August. One A340-500 and four A340-600 planes were sold for 350 million baht.

Thai Airways and AirAsia X are reportedly exploring establishing a foothold in Kazakhstan by providing "fifth-freedom flights."