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THAI has set its sights on developing an aircraft maintenance centre at U-Tapao airport into an expensive smart hangar with the most state-of-the-art technology in Southeast Asia. Preparations are being made for the project, a large computerised building serving as a "hospital" for aircraft, as THAI already has repair facilities at the airport compound and is in talks with Air France to jointly invest in the maintenance business. The aim is to increase the capacity to serve THAI and other airlines' planes, THAI executive VP Chalermpon Intarawong said. "We need a huge amount of money to build a smart hangar," he said. "But in terms of worthiness, it can be used for up to 30 years." The hangar will be "smart" because almost of every step of the checks and maintenance process will be run on computer systems. <br/>

United Continental Holdings said Monday that a closely watched revenue measure dropped less than it had forecast in Q2. United said passenger unit revenue fell between 6.5% and 6.75% in the just-ended quarter, compared with expectations for a decline of as much as 7.5%. United attributed the difference to higher-than-expected international airfares on average and to more business travel during the last week of June, around the US Fourth of July holiday. Passenger unit revenue of the biggest US airlines has declined for more than a year as flights have outpaced demand and as foreign sales translated into fewer dollars, because of the rising strength of the US currency. <br/>