Thai Airways International (THAI) has reported that revenue and profit increased in the first quarter compared to the same time last year.
Company chairman Ampon Kittiampon said after chairing a board of directors' meeting yesterday that revenue in the first quarter of 2010 was Bt49 billion, an increase of Bt8.5 billion or 20.7 percent from the same quarter last year.
Total expenses, including a share of losses from investments by the equity method and finance costs, totalled Bt38 billion, an increase of Bt5.2 billion or 15.9 percent, mainly due to an increase in "production" and in the average jet fuel price.
Net profit was Bt10 billion, which is higher than the Bt7.8 billion net profit for the same period last year.
The company's EBITDA was Bt11.4 billion.
The global economic recovery, which began at the end of 2009, created a boost in air travel and freight demand in the first quarter of 2010. Passenger and freight traffic increased by 17.7 and 54.4 per cent respectively from last year.
The demonstrations underway since March did not significantly affect passenger numbers for the quarter.
As of March 31, total assets for the airline and its subsidiaries were Bt278 billion, an increase of Bt6.3 billion from December 31, 2009.
The company's total liability was Bt214 billion, which was a decrease of Bt4.3 billion.
For April, THAI's production - or available seat kilometre (ASK) - was a decrease of 2.89 percent when compared to the same period last year and a decrease of 9.43 per cent when compared to the previous month.
The ASK is obtained by multiplying the total number of seats available for scheduled passengers and the total number of kilometres those seats were flown.
Another measurement, THAI's revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), was 1.49 per cent lower than for the same period last year and 17.04 per cent lower than the previous month.
THAI's cabin factor was approximately 72.15 per cent - or 1.45 percent higher than the same period last year and 8.40 per cent lower than the previous month (March).
For the period of January - April 2010, THAI's ASK was 7.36 per cent, higher than the same period last year. Average cabin factor was approximately 78.90 per cent - or 5.19 per cent up compared to the same period last year.