THAI’s third quarter results show little light ahead
In response to Thai Airways International (THAI)’s poor earnings in the third quarter of this year, acting president Chansin Treenuchagorn said the airline is doing its best to reduce costs to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 from the previous quarter.
The airline has been providing cargo services in certain routes and also organising special flights to repatriate Thai nationals. It is also placing more emphasis on the domestic market after its subsidiary, ThaiSmile began flying local routes from June 1 this year.
In the third quarter of this year, THAI and ThaiSmile’s passenger production had dropped 95 per cent, while passenger traffic had decreased 97.8 per cent. The average cabin factor was 34.9 per cent lower than last year, when the average factor stood at 80 per cent.
So far, only 490,000 passengers have been transported in the third quarter, marking a drop of 91.9 per cent from 2019. Freight production, meanwhile, was 96.2 per cent lower than the previous year, while freight traffic had dropped 93.6 per cent compared to 2019. The average freight load factor, however, was 91.2 per cent higher than the previous year, when the average stood at 52.2 per cent.
The total revenue earned by THAI and its subsidiaries in the third quarter this year was Bt3.73 billion baht less or 91.7 per cent lower than the Bt41.3 billion earned in the same quarter last year. The main reason for this was that revenue from passenger and cargo transportation had dropped by Bt37.66 billion (95.1 per cent) and revenue from other activities had dropped by Bt1.72 billion (56.2 per cent).
The airline’s total expenses stood at Bt19.38 billion or 59.5 per cent less than the Bt28.48 billion incurred last year, mainly due to reduction in flights.
Fixed expenses, however, remained high, while revenue earned was not enough to compensate for operating loss of Bt15.65 billion, which was Bt12.8 billion or 450.6 per cent higher than the same quarter last year.
THAI and its subsidiaries recorded a net loss of Bt21.53 billion, which was Bt16.85 billion or 360.1 per cent more than the losses incurred in the previous year.
Losses attributed to the owners of the parent company was Bt21.54 billion, representing a loss of Bt9.87 per share compared to last year’s loss of Bt2.14 per share.
