Thai Airways aircraft disposal program continues apace

Thai Airways International has disposed of 19 aircraft, is entering into purchase and sale contracts for a further six, and is putting up for sale another 12 aircraft, as the airline's restructuring process continues apace. In notes accompanying the May 12 release of its Q1 financial results, Thai Airways International disclosed that since entering into the business rehabilitation process, a transitional court-supervised bankruptcy period similar to Chapter 11 that provides the airline with protection from creditors, it has sold ten B747-400s and nine A340s including both the A340-500 and A340-600 variants. The airline says these aircraft are still to be delivered to the buyers. In addition, Thai Airways says it is in the process of entering into purchase and sale contracts for six B777-300s. All six aircraft are currently stored at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. Finally, Thai Airways has announced that it wants to sell six B777-200s and six A380-800s. All except HS-TJD are parked at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. HS-TJD is parked at Bangkok Don Mueang. After deliberating on whether to return some of their A380-800s to service, Thai Airways elected not to and is now attempting to re-market the planes. The entire six-strong fleet is available for sale. <br/>