Thai Airways International is planning to grow its regional and short-to-medium haul fleet, with the airlines signing another leasing deal.
A Thai A320 tail at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport – Image Economy Class and Beyond
The airline has signed an lease agreement with SMBC Aviation Capital, for them to provision eight (8) Airbus A321neo aircraft.
These eight aircraft are from SMBC Aviation Capital’s direct Airbus orderbook and are scheduled to be delivered in 2026 and 2027. The aircraft will be part of Thai Airways’ narrowbody fleet growth strategy as they expand their regional network.
Internal configurations have not been announced at this time, but given Thai Airways A320 refit programme was recently completed as a tw0-class aircraft, a configuration like this should be expected.
In Quotes
Conor Stafford, Head of Airline Marketing, SMBC Aviation Capital, said,
“The Airbus A321neo aircraft will not only boost Thai Airways operational efficiency, it will enhance the overall customer experience with more comfort and advanced features while also promoting a more sustainable aviation industry. We are delighted to support Thai Airways in the growth and modernisation of their fleet and we look forward to many years of working together.”
Growing the regional fleet
Thai Airways currently operates a fleet 20 Airbus A320ceo aircraft in its single-aisle operation, which previously operated under Thai Smile. The airline is planning to add at least 34 single-ailse A321neo to its fleet – with it turning to leasing companies to fill that capacity (in this case SMBC Aviation Capital and AerCap).
The majority of the fleet is split over different widebody types including the Airbus A330-300, Airbus A350-900, Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 – 58 aircraft in total.
With Thai Airways using a mixture of wide and narrowbodies aircraft on regional missions, having more single-aisle aircraft will allow them to refocus their fleet and operation and redeploy its widebody aircraft to more appropriate traffic.
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