AN IMPROVING financial performance from Thai Airways is raising calls for the Thai Government to press ahead with a further sale of shares in the national airline.
Thai transport minister Wan Mohammed Nor Matha is on record as urging the country's finance ministry to sell some of its 93% holding in the carrier, to allow it greater commercial flexibility.
The flotation of an initial 7% of the airline's shares on the Bangkok stock exchange took place in mid-1992, heralded as the first phase of a gradual privatisation.
No further share sale has taken place, in part because of the airline's fluctuating financial performance.
The call to restart privatisation follows signs of an upturn in Thai Airways' fortunes. The carrier ended its third quarter to the end of June showing a net profit of 588 million baht ($23 million), up from around 190 million baht posted the year before.
The result was helped by more than 600 million baht from the sale of two Boeing 747-200s, but also comes as a result of a steady 4% rise in revenues.
After the first nine months of its financial year, Thai Airways had added more than 1 billion baht to its net profits, taking the total to 3 billion baht.
Source: Flight International
