Thai Airways A340-600s may resume service after five-year rest

A five-year rest in a Thai beach town may be idyllic, but not for the six Thai Airways A340-600s parked at Pattaya’s U-Tapao airport 147km outside of Bangkok accumulating maintenance charges while awaiting a buyer for the unpopular aircraft. Instead, the Thai government is now advising the flag carrier to consider putting the A340-600s back into service after updating the cabin interior. That would bring better airframe ownership economics than selling the aircraft and buying new ones, the government suggests. Thai management has been evaluating fleet options since its board rejected in September a long-sought plan to buy 38 aircraft. Amid increasing public scrutiny of the flag carrier’s US$3.2b debt and growing losses this year, the board wants to reduce upfront costs and initially told management to explore leasing and if all proposed aircraft are still needed. The new suggestion from Deputy Minister of Transport Thaworn Sennam is that Thai should assess retrofitting the A340-600s with new interiors and then flying them on long-haul routes, according to Thai paper Manager Daily. Thai withdrew its last A340-600 from service in March 2015. Thaworn did not say if all six parked aircraft should be re-activated.<br/>