Let's get this one straight:
Thai Air to Buy 7 Boeing Planes From UAL for $350 Mln
Bangkok, Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Thai Airways International
Pcl, the national carrier, plans to buy seven Boeing Co. 747-400
aircraft from UAL Corp.'s United Airlines for $350 million to
increase passenger capacity.
The carrier will save as much as $100 million on each plane
by buying aircraft that aren't brand new, Chairman Thanong Bidaya told reporters after the board approved the acquisitions.
Thai Air is looking to expand its fleet to meet rising
passenger demand. The carrier filled 74 percent of its available
passenger seats in the three months ended Dec. 31 compared with 67.3 percent in the same period a year earlier, it said last
month.
The purchase of used aircraft "will save Thai Air money for
other investment,'' said Siam Tiyanont, an analyst at Phillip
Securities (Thailand) Pcl. "The company needs more new planes
quickly'' because of passenger congestion.
United, the world's No. 2 carrier, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in December.
The carrier expects to take delivery of as many as four
aircraft from United Airlines this year, while the rest will be
delivered next year, Thanong said.
"The purchase of used aircraft will shorten the delivery
time and increase our ability to compete with other airlines,''
Thanong said.
The purchase is subject to approval by the government, which
owns 93 percent of Thai Air. The airline last year placed orders for two new Boeing planes.
Two of the planes were built in 1997 and the rest were made
in 1998, the airline said in a statement. Each plane has 347 seats, the release said.
The board today also asked the airline to borrow through
short-term loans to repay yen-currency bonds due on March 27.
--Anuchit Nguyen in the Bangkok newsroom (662) 654-7308
That looks like quite a discount; in December, Aircraft Value News indicated that a 1998-build 744 should be worth about USD 94.0m. Anyway, good to see that these airframes won't be rotting in the desert or overhanging the remaining fleet.