Thai Airways International (THAI) improved its performance in the second quarter of this year with revenue totalling 21.5 billion baht, up 282% on the same period last year.
The national carrier, going through financial rehabilitation, reported a jump in revenue from passenger and cargo services of 619.3%, at 19,803 million baht. The rise was attributed chiefly to higher factory production and cargo volumes.
Total operating expenses, excluding one-time transactions, were 22.8 billion baht, or 126.3% higher than the same period last year.
Higher expenses were blamed particularly on the sharp hike in aviation fuel prices, which rose by 104.1% resulting in 8.9 billion baht in aircraft fuel expenses, or 39.2% of total operating expenses.
THAI also announced a drop in personnel expenses thanks to cost reduction programmes demanded by the court-approved rehabilitation plan.
They contributed a narrowing of the operating loss at 1.2 billion baht, a big drop on the same period last year when the operating loss amounted to 4.4 billion baht.
Also, profit from Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) after deduction of aircraft leases stood at 168 million baht, a big improvement from last year's EBITDA's loss of 9.2 billion baht. It was the first such profit after the company entered rehabilitation
THAI and its subsidiaries reported their financial costs at 3.1 billion baht and had one-time transactions with net profit totalling 1.9 billion baht, consisting of profits from debt restructuring, organisational restructuring, a personnel compensation structure, and sales of investment and assets, despite losses from asset impairment and the foreign exchange rate.
The steady rebound of the aviation industry helped largely by the easing of travel restrictions in most countries is driving up customer demand for THAI which has been progressively restoring flights.
In the second quarter, THAI and its subsidiaries’ Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) was 366.6% higher year-on-year while Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) was up 1,766.9%.
Cabin factor averaged 60.3%, a significant surge from 15.1% year on year. During the second quarter, the airline flew 2.01 million passengers, or 570% more than it did in the same period last year.
Last month alone, travel and cargo demand went up markedly, which saw load factor topping 77%.
According to the airline, 30% of its passengers travelled to and from Thailand. THAI and its subsidiaries now have 13.4 billion baht in cash equivalents at the end of June, compared to 5.5 billion baht worth of equivalents during the same period last year.
