THAI chairman promises a turn-around
Thai Airways International chairman Ampon Kittiampon has told shareholders of his determination to see a strong financial performance from the national carrier this year, after it suffered a loss of more than Bt10 billion last year.
He made such a commitment to THAI’s shareholder meeting yesterday and said that if he were unable to achieve success, he would not attend next year’s meeting and an ‘‘acting’’ chairman would take charge instead.
“I will not have a thick enough skin to attend the meeting next year if I cannot do what I am committed to doing,’’ he said, acknowledging there were still risks to THAI’s business.
Ampon said the carrier would not pay a dividend for last year as it had been hit by several factors that resulted in its huge losses.
He added that this year, he had been working hard with the introduction of aggressive strategies to turn the situation around. One of them is to launch the low-cost airline, Thai Smile, whose first flight will be to Macau on July 7.
Noncore businesses will be in focus this year, with catering and ground services among them. THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand said both of these businesses were posting a net profit of Bt100 million a month.
Piyasvasti also said talk of his resignation had merely been a rumour. He said he would work hard for THAI and expected its net profit to reach Bt6 billion this year.
However, oil prices are still a major risk, as well as natural disasters, he added.
The current month has offered up a good sign for the airline, its overall passenger-load factor having reached 79.2 per cent and the domestic load factor having risen by 30 per cent.
