Euro financing approved for 3 aircraft

 THAI Chairman Ampon Kittiampon said that HSBC and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ will finance the acquisition of two Airbus A330-300, scheduled for delivery in November and December 2011.

 BNP Paribas Corporate & Investment Banking, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Development Bank of Japan will come up with the long-term loan for another aircraft for delivery in February 2012.

 The three aircraft is part of 15 to renovate the airline's fleet in the near term. THAI will acquire seven aircraft during 2010-2014 under the operating lease method.

The board today was also informed that the airline's available seat-kilometer (ASK) for August 2011 was 4.5 per cent higher than in August 2010. Revenue passenger-kilometer (RPK) for August 2011 was 4.7 per cent higher than in August 2010. Cabin factor for August 2011 averaged at 74.6 per cent which was 0.3 per cent higher than in August 2010.

 For period from January to August 2011, ASK was 4.8 per cent higher than the same period the previous year. Revenue passenger-kilometer (RPK) was 3.2 per cent higher than the same period in 2010. Cabin Factor averaged at 72.5 per cent.

 Freight load factor for August was 54.2 per cent, which was 10.4 per cent lower than the same month the previous year.  It averaged 56.6 per cent in the first eight months, which was 8.6 per cent lower than the same period in 2010.