Thai Airways International has suffered about 28 billion baht in losses for the first half of this year, mainly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seriously impacted its operations.
THAI Acting President Charnsin Treenuchagron said today that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous countries imposing lockdown measures, including travel restrictions, resulting in substantial reductions in domestic and international travel.
THAI, he said, had to reduce its flights in line with reduced passenger loads.
For the first quarter of this year, Mr. Charnsin disclosed that the national flag carrier, and its affiliated companies, recorded 38 billion baht in consolidated revenues, a 23.7 billion drop compared to the same period last year, largely due to the sharp reduction in passengers and freight.
Expenses for the first quarter amounted to 42.61 billion baht, about 8.09 billion baht, or 15.8% lower than the expenses of the same period last year, resulting in a loss of 22.676 billion baht.
In the second quarter, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified, affecting the air travel industry worldwide, forcing the Thai Civil Aviation Authority to ban all incoming flights temporarily, said Mr. Charnsin, adding that THAI was forced to completely suspend operations on a temporary basis.
Despite the incoming flight ban, he added that THAI continued tightening its belt, to maintain its liquidity and, at the same time, operated charter and repatriation flights, disclosing that the number of passengers for the first half of the year had dropped 98.6%, to about 80,000.
For the second quarter, THAI earned 2.492 billion baht in revenue, compared to 40.017 billion baht for the same period last year. Voluntary reduction of salaries by the management and staff for April through December have reduced the company’s expenses for the second quarter to 16.193 billion baht, about 67.4% lower than the previous year.
