National airline’s subsidiary ceases operations

To commemorate the four final flights of Thai Smile to Krabi, Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai and Hat Yai, the Thai Airways board, led by Piyasvasti Amranand, chairman of the airline's debt rehabilitation administrator, held a farewell event with passengers on Sunday at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

The special event included boarding with passengers, offering souvenirs, and serving special sweet treats such as orange cake, fruit cake, mango cheesecake, and banana almond cake.

While Thai Smile has ceased to exist, the top executives stressed that its routes and services will continue under Thai Airways.

In early 2023, Thai Airways announced the dissolution of THAI Smile as part of its bankruptcy restructuring and its plan for the airline to complete the integration of the subsidiary by the beginning of January 2024 before exiting bankruptcy protection later this year.

Twenty THAI Smile aircraft and approximately 800 crew and employees will be transferred to Thai Airways. The move will enable Thai Airways to offer more flights and services on domestic and regional routes.

Passengers who hold Thai Smile tickets can still use them.

Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri earlier expressed confidence that the integration would improve aircraft utilisation and contribute to Thai Airways' overall profitability.
 

The company intends to keep each Thai Smile plane in the air for approximately 13 hours per day. Along with improved management, Chai said he anticipated that Thai Airways could cut the fleet's day-to-day operating costs by 20%.

Thai Airways reported a fourth-straight quarterly profit in November 2023, as passenger numbers continued to rise following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The positive development contributed to the company's net income of 1.54 billion baht for the three months ending September, a significant recovery from a loss of 4.79 billion baht the previous year.