THAI gets nod to hire cabin crew

The board of directors approved the hiring on Thursday and said the application process would start this month. The airline has faced a shortage of personnel since last year, said Ampon Kittiampon, who chairs the board. 

The board agreed that its business performance in January was still positive. The airline carried 1.89 million passengers, an 8.1-per-cent increase from the same month last year. Its overall cabin factor rose to 78.8 per cent, up from 77.3 per cent. On regional routes, cabin factor increased to 74.7 per cent from 69.6 per cent the previous year. 

Thai Smile, its subsidiary brand, also showed good performance. Its cabin factor was on average 84.8 per cent. Of its passengers, 79.4 per cent were on regional flights and the rest on domestic flights. 

THAI’s freight business was hit by the declining global economy, resulting in a drop in demand. Freight load factor in January declined to 47.4 per cent, down from 49.7 per cent in the same period last year. 

The airline posted net profit of Bt6.51 billion for 2012 operations. Earnings per share were Bt2.85. In 2011, it lost Bt10.19 billion, or Bt4.67 per share. The firm attributed its financial improvement to its corporate strategy of increasing competitiveness through fuel risk management and cost-operating management, as well as the increase in its shareholding in Nok Air and setting up a business unit for Thai Smile.