Thai Airways Is Pondering Resurrecting The Airbus A380

Thai Airways International is “studying attentively” the prospect of reintroducing the double-decker Airbus A380 into its fleet as demand for air travel continues to rise in the area and around the world.

Korakot Chatasingha, Thai Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), recently announced that the company is “studying closely” the possibility of reintroducing the Airbus A380 into service during a speech given at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Assembly of Presidents, which Thai Airways in Bangkok hosted.

Thai Airways had six A380s before the outbreak of COVID-19, but all of them were put into storage in Thailand. Two are housed at Rayong Pattaya U-Tapao International Airport, while four are parked at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

As Chatasingha pointed out, “as you know, to bring them and return them to service takes a lot of money.”

Although the airline filed for bankruptcy in 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it has been slowly making a comeback and reported a profit in the third quarter of 2022. During the third quarter of the year, it earned THB32.86 billion ($913 million) in revenue, leading to a quarterly profit of THB3.9 billion ($108.4 million)—an increase of 173.8% compared to the same period last year.

It was only on 1 February 2022 that Thailand permitted travel without a quarantine.

Before the airline had considered selling two of its Airbus A380s, The  RFP was published by Thai Airways in March of 2021. No one has taken advantage of the offer because the Super Jumbo has become one of the least desirable planes in the skies since COVID-19 effectively grounded international flights in the region and beyond.