Orient Thai preparing to order 20 Boeing aircraft
Leithen Francis, Beijing (19Dec07, 06:22 GMT, 302 words)
Orient Thai Airlines is negotiating with Boeing and hopes to finalise an aircraft order in April for 12 Boeing 737s and eight Boeing 787s.

The carrier’s chairman, Udom Tantiprasongchai, says: “We hope to finalise [the deal] in April and when the first aircraft is delivered depends on the delivery schedule”.

“At the moment airlines have booked a lot of aircraft so” there may be a long wait “but there may be some improvement in the delivery schedule so if possible we are hoping the first 737 will be delivered in 2011 and the 787 will be some time after that”.

He says the order will be for 12 737-900s and eight 787-9s.

It chose the 737-900 over the 737-800 “because we need the capacity, not the range”, says Udom, who plans to use the 737s for Orient Thai’s low-cost carrier One-Two-Go which is primarily a domestic operator that currently uses Boeing MD-82s.

The 787-9s will be used at Orient Thai, which is an international scheduled and charter operator that currently uses Boeing 747-200s.

When asked how he plans to finance the aircraft purchase, Udom says “we are looking at private equity groups or leasing arms”.

“I don’t think any airline today will come up with $1 billion” of its own money to pay for aircraft, he adds.

Orient Thai faces intense competition from flag carrier Thai Airways International which is considering operating Airbus A380s on some of Orient Thai’s biggest routes plus it faces competition on domestic and short-haul international routes from low-cost carriers such as Thai’s Nok Air and Thai AirAsia, which is an off-shoot of Malaysia’s AirAsia.

Udom says Thailand has become too lax in granting air operator’s certificates (AOC) to foreign-backed operators and he claims Thailand has become one of the easiest places in Asia to get an AOC.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news