Thai Airways Plans to Dispose of Airbus A380 as Part of New Aircraft Order

Thai Airways, which is about to begin the process of ordering up to 30 wide-body aircraft, wants the order to include the transfer of six Airbus A380s to one of the aircraft manufacturers.

The flag carrier of Thailand is in the process of issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP), as it looks to buy up to 30 twin-aisle jets to operate long-haul and short-haul routes from the country.

Thai Airways wants to dispose of six of its dormant Airbus A380 aircraft as part of the order negotiations, according to Aviation Daily, which spoke to the airline’s chief executive officer (CEO) Chai Eamsiri at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 4, 2023.

In November 2022, Thai Airways chief commercial officer (CCO) Korakot Chatasingha said that the airline was “studying closely” whether to bring back the six aircraft.

“As you know, to bring them and return them to service costs a lot of money,” Chatasingha said at the time.

When Thai Airways issues the RFP for new aircraft, the process could result in an order coming in months later, with the wide-body jet set to refresh and help the airline grow its fleet.

Currently, out of the six A380s, four are stored at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), while the remaining pair is sat at U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport (UTP), Thailand, according to ch-aviation.com data.

Thai Airways also operates four Airbus A330-300, 13 Airbus A350-900, seven Boeing 747-400, six 777-200ER, 17 777-300ER, six 787-8, and two 787-9 aircraft, ch-aviation.com data showed.

Six of the airline’s Boeing 777-200s are also up for sale, with the carrier recently extending the deadline for proposals to May 29, 2023.