Thai Airways International is considering a spin off, of its MRO and inflight catering operations into standalone subsidiaries.
Speaking to Thai media, the airline's president Chai Eamsiri said that the potential "spin off" would allow the businesses to compete for third-party business and have the potential to be more profitable than the core airline. "We believe our employees in these business units will not object to this idea," he was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying. "Should the business units become our subsidiaries, the rewards for the staff will be better because they might make more money than Thai Airways' main airline operations." Eamsiri also said that the airline remains interested in building an MRO facility at U-Tapao but is awaiting further advice from local authorities. In 2018 the airline had signed a joint venture agreement with Airbus to develop the facility to offer maintenance and line services for all widebody aircraft types, including Boeing aircraft. However, Airbus withdrew from the agreement in 2020 as a cash preservation measure due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thai Airways is “accelerating” its capital restructuring plan through a debt-to-equity swap and an additional share placement, as it looks to exit rehabilitation and resume trading by the second quarter of 2025. Citing the carrier’s negative shareholder equity of Bt40.4 billion ($1.2 billion) as of 30 June, the carrier says: “Thai is therefore accelerating the capital restructuring plan to turn Thai’s shareholders’ equity into positive through debt-to-equity conversion in two parts: converting the original debt of creditors into compulsory capital and granting creditors the right to convert additional debt into capital voluntarily.” The carrier had said in its mid-year earnings review that it aims to have positive shareholders' equity in 2024’s annual financial statements, which is one of the conditions for exiting rehabilitation. Thai will allocate up to 14.9 billion new shares at Bt2.55 per share to creditors – including the finance ministry – as part of a mandatory debt-to-equity swap that was approved in October 2022. At the same time, it will offer 6.81 billion shares for a voluntary debt-to-equity conversion, also at Bt2.55 per share. It also plans to offer 9.82 billion new shares to existing shareholders, employees and investors at no less than Bt2.55 per share, which will include shares remaining from the voluntary debt-to-equity swap. The shares issued should not exceed 59% of the total number of shares offered, including shares remaining from the voluntary conversion process, it states. To maintain the stability of share prices, plan administrators have set a lock-up period of a year after the carrier resumes trading on the stock exchange, under which creditors who receive additional shares cannot sell allocated shares in the first six months and only up to 25% in the second half. The capital restructuring process is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, says Piyasvasti Amranand, chairman of the carrier’s business rehabilitation plan executive committee, adding that the finance ministry is still expected to be the major shareholder post-restructuring. “It is expected that Thai Airways will be able to file a petition with the Central Bankruptcy Court to cancel the rehabilitation and return Thai Airways’ shares to trading on the Stock Exchange within the second quarter of 2025,” he states.

Vietnam Airlines plans to reconfigure the cabins of 23 Airbus A321s using seats supplied by Safran. The new cabin layout for the single-aisles will comprise eight business and 201 economy seats, the carrier says. Data shows that Vietnam Airlines has 40 A321ceos, 20 A321neos and one A320neo in its fleet, and another two A320neos on order. The A321neos and eight of the A321ceos are configured with eight business and 195 economy seats, while the remaining 32 A321ceos have 16 business and either 162 or 168 economy seats. Beyond seats, Safran will provide internet-access equipment for 20 A321neos and 17 Boeing 787s, Vietnam Airlines says. It adds that Safran will continue to supply spare parts for business seats on its 787s and A350s. Vietnam Airlines has 11 787-9s, five 787-10s and 14 A350-900s. It has one more 787-10 on order.