Nok Air mulls northeastern Thailand airport for MRO facility

Nok Air continues to scope out airports in northeastern Thailand for a suitable site to build an MRO facility. According to The Nation newspaper, the low-cost carrier has an initial budget of THB1.5b baht (US$41.6m) and is also scouting for a foreign joint venture partner. Nok Air CEO Wutthiphum Jurangkool told the outlet that he hopes to have the facility operational by 2026. ch-aviation has previously reported on Jurangkool's MRO plans. He wants the facility to service the carrier's fourteen B737-800s in-house, and he hopes to have the necessary approvals and financing in place sometime in Q1 2024. The CEO adds that Utapao Airport is not being considered because of the potential competition there. Chai Eamsiri, the CEO of Thai Airways International, has confirmed his airline has the funds and the desire to revisit pre-pandemic plans to build an MRO facility at that airport. Originally a joint venture between the airline and Airbus, the latter pulled out during the pandemic, but Eamsiri and local infrastructure agencies promoting the US$200m-plus plan say there's plenty of regional MRO business ripe for the capture in addition to meeting Thai's own in-house MRO needs.<br/>