Thai Airways Planning MRO Spin-Off With Bangkok Airways

Thai Airways is considering the spin-off of its maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) units into a separate subsidiary, as the flag-carrier remains on track to exit rehabilitation by the end of 2024 and return to the Thai stock exchange by the second quarter of 2025.

Speaking to the media in Bangkok, Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri said some of the airline’s business units are above average profit margin at almost 20%, compared to the airline’s annual profit margin of 5-6%.

“Should the business units become our subsidiaries, the rewards for the staff will be better because they might make more money than Thai Airways’ main airline operations,” Chai said, noting it will give the parent airline more bandwidth to focus on its own operations.

Thai Airways had planned on building a new MRO facility with Airbus at U-Tapao, but the European-manufacturer pulled out from the joint venture in 2020.

Thai Airways says it is in discussion with Bangkok Airways on the project, which will consist of two phases. The first phase will see the construction of three hangars for three widebody and two narrowbody aircraft, and the second phase consists of three more hangars.

Chai said the project will have pushed Thailand’s eastern economy corridor plan to revitalize the relatively underdeveloped east.

Thai Airways has posted a first half 2024 profit of THB2.7 billion ($80.7 million) and is set to announce third quarter earnings on Nov. 8.