Thai Airways remained profitable in the third quarter as revenues continued to increase on the back of traffic growth.
The Star Alliance carrier’s operating profit before one-off items and finance costs fell 7% to Bt7.2 billion ($209 million) – and by 41% to Bt2.4 billion after finance costs are included.
Thai Airways operating revenues climbed 24% to Bt45.8 billion for the three months ending 30 September, as revenues from passenger and cargo both increased.
Passenger numbers rose a fifth to 3.9 million during the quarter. Thai boosted passenger traffic 24% for the quarter but was slightly short of the 26% of capacity added over the same period.
Thai revenues however were outpaced by a 32% increase in costs, This was largely driven by a rise in non-fuel operating expenses, especially in MRO-related costs. Thai notes the sharp increase (nearly two-fold year on year) stems from an addition of nine more aircraft.
Thai though did report a significant jump in its net profit - up about eight-fold to Bt12.5 billion. This was due mainly to gains from foreign currency exchange and debt restructuring.
