What must thai Airways avoid at all cost in its upcoming order?

Hello All,

A Bloomberg article mentions that Thai Airways is planning to place a major twin-aisle aircraft order in future months. Both OEMs are pitching four aircraft families: A330neo, A350, 777X, and 787.

In this very short post, the blog will clearly state what the Thai flag carrier must avoid.

A history of messy fleet

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Thai Airways’ fleet was a mess. The carrier operated six aircraft families: A330, A350, A380, B747, B777, and B787. Since then, the carrier has retired the B747 and A380.

Two families to avoid

The carrier must keep the work on keeping a streamlined fleet. The carrier will likely operate fewer than 100 twin-aisle aircraft long term. It cannot justify operating three new-generation twin-aisle families.

The A330neo and 787 have similar capacities. Since the carrier already operates the Dreamliner, it doesn’t make sense to order the A330neo. The carrier should also avoid the 777X: after the poor financial performance of the A380, this blog can’t see the 777X working in the carrier’s network. The passenger travel mix to Thailand has too few premium passengers which makes large twin operations profitable.

The bottom line is to keep it simple:

• Follow-up orders for more 787-9s and A350-900s;
• Order the A350-1000;
• Maybe more 787-8s and consider the 787-10 for intra-Asia routes;
• No A330neo or 777X.