Thai Airways aims to be the ‘safest airline’

Thai Airways International Plc ( THAI) President Charamporn Jotikasthira on Friday said the airline aims to be the safest carrier in the Asia-Pacific region within this year.

The airline is now running internal audit procedure in the wake of safety issues raised by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The airline also planned to ask a third party – the same group that certified airline members of Star Alliance – to take part in safety audit at THAI.

“If we pass this audit procedure, the airline should not worry about security checks by any aviation authority,” he said.

THAI is set to suspend dividend payments owing to huge losses last year, but insisted that its financial status and performance would improve this year.

Charamporn said Friday’s shareholder meeting approved the company’s proposal not to pay dividend to shareholders this year, as the company made a net loss of Bt15 billion in 2014.

The airline said the decision was in accordance with its policy to distribute dividends of no less than 25 per cent of consolidated net profit gain or loss on foreign exchange as well as subject to future investments.

Charamporn said the airline’s financial status and performance would improve this year as the average load factor had already improved to 76 per cent in the second quarter. Average load factor in March climbed to 76 per cent, compared to 67 per cent in the same month last year.

“The company expects to see profits from the first quarter of 2017,” he said.