Boeing woos Thai Airways
06 Jun 2011
Boeing is gearing up to bag orders from Thai Airways, which has one of the largest fleet renewal plans in the world. The American aerospace and defence giant, also one of the largest commercial aircraft manufacturers in the world has adopted a very aggressive pricing approach. Thai is due to take on 75 new jets for its fleet, phased over a number of years.
The total value of the order could be in the region of $15 billion (457.12 billion baht) for purchase of new aircraft.
A Boeing team, led by John Wojick, vice-president for Asia-Pacific sales of commercial airplanes, was in Bangkok last week to advance negotiations with the flag carrier. Negotiations are expected to close in the next two months or so.
After a delay, caused by policy battles within the Thai government over the manner in which the procurement was to be conducted, Thai is now catching up for lost time and moving quickly to finalise deals with plane manufacturers and lessors.
Deliveries of new aircraft, either bought or leased, will spread over the next 12 years.
The Thai government cleared the proposal this April.