Thai Airways to post solid results

BANGKOK, Oct 8 (AFP) - Thai Airways International weathered the SARS outbreak well and will post "very impressive results" for its fiscal year to September, a report said Wednesday.

Despite a loss of 10 billion baht (25 million dollars) in sales during the regional Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, the flag carrier performed favourably throughout the year, President Kanok Abhiradee was cited as saying in the Bangkok Post.

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Figures must first be reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Kanok attributed the solid performance to efficient cost-control strategies, including 620 million baht saved on insurance expenditure, revenue management and an organisational revamp to boost productivity.

"I am tough on every deal THAI is involved with. There has been a whole change in our buying process," he said, adding that the company had also created a new airfare price mix to raise yields.

"If we were to earn only two to three dollars more on each ticket, we could generate much more revenue as we carry about 1.6 million passengers a month," he told the English-language daily.

He added that the carrier would discuss with its travel agents about slightly raising airfares.

Thai Airways was initially battered by the SARS crisis, which turned its balance sheet red in the three months to June, when it posted a loss of 1.27 billion baht compared to a 3.45 billion baht profit in 2002.

The deadly form of pneumonia swept through parts of the region earlier this year, devastating the tourism industry and cutting Thai Airways' passenger traffic by 40 percent in May.

sb/bmm

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