The scrapping of Thai Airways International Plc's (THAI) plan to buy 38 new planes may force the national flag carrier to stick to renting.
THAI president Sumet Damrongchaitham was speaking about the national airline's troubled financial status with the media yesterday.
The about-turn came after the board of directors on Monday found the 156-billion-baht aircraft purchase an over-investment considering the financial condition of the company, which has been in the red and has debts exceeding 100 billion baht.
In the first half of this year alone, a loss of 6.8 billion baht was already reported.
The THAI executives had earlier planned to purchase the new aircraft to replace 20 that will be decommissioned soon.
In the short term, Mr Sumet said the company is considering renting at least three planes to reinforce its fleet.
"It is not necessary to stick to purchasing as renting can be a more suitable option," he said.
"It's good they raised concerns as we'll bring the plan for back reconsideration," Mr Sumet said, adding that the national flag carrier was given six months to make a revision.
The THAI president believes that the new plan to rent three planes will be approved by the board.
Upon receiving the green light from the board, Mr Sumet said he will forward the plan to rent planes to the Ministry of Transport and then the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council.
On the refusal to purchase aircraft, Mr Sumet said the executives might need to rewrite a new purchase plan that fits the current scenario.
"If we still want to have 38 new planes, we have to think whether to change the size quoted and adjust the budget," Mr Sumet said.
