Published: 20/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business
With the departure of the last Boeing 737-300 in August as part of its fleet renewal, Thai AirAsia (TAA) now has the youngest fleet among all commercial airlines registered in Thailand.
TAA staff celebrate the arrival of its 17th and 18th A320s at Suvarnabhumi Airport in August.
The low-cost carrier now has an average fleet age of only one year, with the oldest being two years and the youngest being just a few weeks.
Orient Thai Airlines operates the oldest fleet, averaging 25.5 years, according to http://www.airfleets.net.
It was followed by the budget carrier Nok Air, Thai Airways International and Bangkok Airways.
Airfleets did not post figures for Nok Air, but an airline industry analyst estimated an age range of 15-18 years.
THAI, according to the figures cited most recently by its management, has an average fleet age of 11.5 years. Bangkok Airways’ planes average 3.4 years, according to Airfleets.
TAA phased out its last B737-300 on Aug 20 and now carries the Airbus 320, which boasts better fuel economy, efficiency and capability.
Utilising a young fleet has lifted TAA’s on-time performance to 98% from 87-88% last year, enabling the airline to effectively deal with passengers’ complaints about flight delays, said chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld.
The European-made A320 is 15-20% more fuel efficient than the B737-300 while offering roughly 20% more seats with a total of 180 in an all-economy layout.
TAA used to operate 13 old B737-300s, the aircraft it used to start its services back in February 2004.
The airline, 49%-owned by AirAsia, Asia’s largest low-cost carrier based in Malaysia, now has 18 A320s, with the 19th due next month.
TAA also plans to add four more next year and aims to have forty A320s by 2013.
THAI, Orient Thai and Nok Air intend to rejuvenate their fleets to rid themselves of the problems associated with running older aircraft.
THAI chairman Ampon Kittiampon said last week there was a plan to reduce its average fleet age to less than 10 years over the next three years by replacing older aircraft, some more than 20 years old, with new ones.
According to a draft plan presented to the THAI board earlier, by 2026, the airline expects to have 102 aircraft with an average age of 7.5 years.
There are 88 planes in THAI’s fleet with an average age of 11.5 years, compared to competitors such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific whose fleets are about six to seven years old.
Plans are afoot for Orient Thai to modernise its ageing fleet, now with six McDonnell Douglas MD-80/90 series, each with 172 seats, and five Boeing 747s active.
Last July, Orient Thai signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow-based Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) for 12 Sukhoi Superjet 100/95Bs with an option for 12 more, to replace the MD 80/90 planes.
Bron: Bangkok Post