President of Thai Airways International Speaks to Media at FCCT

Mr. Piyasvasti Amranand, the newly appointed President of Thai Airways International, recently met and talked with local and foreign press at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in what was scheduled as “A candid evening with Mr. Piyasvasti Amranand”.

During his presentation, Mr. Amranand shared his vision for the future of THAI and talked frankly about current problems facing the Company. He reviewed the present year’s financial performance, and stated his belief that the worst was now over, with the prospect of returning to limited profit in 2010. He warned, however, that competition within the aviation industry was sure to continue and that THAI would have to maximize efforts to reduce operating costs and improve yields, which were currently unacceptably low. He reported that THAI’s cost-cutting policies targeted savings of over 11 billion Baht for this year, with some aspects of operating budgets having been cut by up to 50%, but not in areas of safety or service quality.

Within the company, Mr. Amranand reported that major reorganization was taking place that would make all levels of management more accountable, with performance evaluation being introduced throughout the organization. In the field of sales and marketing, he set the target for THAI’s internet tickets sales to be increased from under 4% presently, to over 15% within two years.

In outlining future strategic plans, Mr. Amranand highlighted the need for the company to undertake major refinancing of debt and to reorganize the fleet by retiring older aircraft, to be replaced by modern, more fuel-efficient jetliners. Eight Airbus A330 aircraft will join THAI’s fleet in 2010 and six A380 super-jumbo aircraft will be added to THAI’s fleet during 2012-13.

Other areas identified by Mr. Amranand for major improvement included the continued retrofitting of better seating, including in Economy Class, and provision of better inflight entertainment systems on many aircraft. He also promised that THAI’s inflight menu would be improved and standards of service at every customer touch point would be revitalized.

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