Thai Airways operating profit slips in the third quarter despite rising revenues

Thai Airways remained profitable in the third quarter as revenues continued to increase on the back of traffic growth. The Star Alliance carrier’s operating profit before one-off items and finance costs fell 7% to Bt7.2b ($209m) – and by 41% to Bt2.4b after finance costs are included. Thai Airways operating revenues climbed 24% to Bt45.8b for the three months ending 30 September, as revenues from passenger and cargo both increased. Passenger numbers rose a fifth to 3.9m during the quarter. Thai boosted passenger traffic 24% for the quarter but was slightly short of the 26% of capacity added over the same period. Thai revenues however were outpaced by a 32% increase in costs, This was largely driven by a rise in non-fuel operating expenses, especially in MRO-related costs. Thai notes the sharp increase (nearly two-fold year on year) stems from an addition of nine more aircraft. Thai though did report a significant jump in its net profit - up about eight-fold to Bt12.5b. This was due mainly to gains from foreign currency exchange and debt restructuring. <br/>