it's not waffle but Pavlovian conditioning. Quite common all over Asia (from Singapore up to Japan) and in Thailand certainly not only under the current government

Coming from a criminal like Prayuth, it is beyond pathetic .

Thai Airways suffers B9.9bn loss in Q3
Struggling flag carrier surpasses total 2014 loss in 3 quarters

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...9bn-loss-in-q3


Thai Airways International on Wednesday reported a third-quarter loss of 9.9 billion baht, plunging the struggling flag carrier deeper into the red than during all of 2014.
The loss for the July-September period compares with a 1.3-billion-baht profit from the same period last year, according to its statement filed with the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
The latest haemorrhage brings the airline's total net loss for the year to 18 billion baht. For the entire 2014 year, THAI posted 15.6 billion in losses.
A source at THAI said on Monday that the airline this year could break its loss record of 21.3 billion, which was set in 2008.
mounting losses.....
Executive vice president Narongchai Wongthanavimok blamed the poor showing on foreign-exchange losses caused by the weakening baht, an export slump that hurt its cargo business, and competition, the SET statement said.
The airline is under pressure from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to slash more expenses to reverse its fortunes after a revitalization plan badly missed its target.
THAI earlier said it wanted to cut 10 billion baht in costs, but so far has trimmed only two billion baht in expenses.
The quarterly earnings report sent THAI shares plunging 2.45%, ending the trading day at 9.95 baht.

That is awful.
Q3 is typically a good quarter for airlines, especially leisure airlines like TG.
The explanation of a weaker baht is a joke. The baht has been much stronger against the euro than last year. Actually, it is stronger than five years ago and that is a reason (together with drastic price increase in bahts) why European tourists often go to weak-currency places like Malaysia. Or maybe that is a typo by the journalist.

In any case, the financial situation at TG is becoming totally hopeless.

Down about 10% vs. the dollar.

But obviously the real problem here is mismanagement.

Usually, Q2 and Q3 are the loss quarters for TG. High season in Thailand is in Q1 and Q4 so these quarters are the earning period for TG.

Indeed, the dollar has been very strong, but the major impact of the dollar is on fuel prices and they have been very low in Q3. Other wise the baht has been quite strong against all other currencies of countries where TG gets pax (Europe, Japan, Asia).

I understand that, but TG gets excellent load during the European holiday season from mid-June to mid-August. If I remember correctly (I could be wrong), Q3 was quite good last year despite the political situation.

Thais revenues are mostly in THB and EUR, but the expenses are in THB and USD.
The decline of EUR vs both, the USD and THB makes Thai "suffer"...

but please read here:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/busi...-30272751.html
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...-record-losses
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...cted-amid-loss

Thai Airways revenue down 4% – financial highlights for three months ended 30-Sep-2015: (source CAPA):
• Operating revenue: THB43,834 million (USD1244 million), -4.3%;
•
o Passenger and excess baggage: THB36,639 million (USD1040 million), -3.3%;
o Freight: THB4268 million (USD121.2 million), -18.6%;
• Total costs: THB48,757 million (USD1384 million), -7.8%;
•
o Fuel: THB16,364 million (USD464.5 million), -16.0%;
o Labour: THB7167 million (USD203.4 million), -1.5%;
• Operating profit (loss): (THB2786 million) (USD79.1 million), compared to a loss of THB3834 million (USD108.8 million) in p-c-p;
• Profit (loss) before tax: (THB8870 million) (USD251.8 million), compared to a profit of THB921.6 million (USD26.2 million) in p-c-p;
• Net profit (loss): (THB9894 million) (USD280.9 million), compared to a profit of THB1097 million (USD31.1 million) in p-c-p;
• Passenger numbers: 5.2 million, +8.8%;
• Passenger load factor: 74.4%, +3.4 ppts;
• Passenger yield: THB2.39 (USD 6.8 cents), -6.9%;
• Cargo volume: 130,859 tons, -6.0%;
• Cargo yield: THB8.75 (USD 24.8 cents), -5.2%;
• Total assets: THB300,436 million (USD8511 million);
• Cash and cash equivalents: THB28,251 million (USD800.3 million);
• Total liabilities: THB280,249 million (USD7955 million).
*Based on the average conversion rate at USD1 = THB35.2297

Total liabilities: THB280,249 million (USD7955 million).


Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.:eek:

Quickly approaching populist-program levels; I'm sure someone will be prosecuted. :D

With tourist visits to Thailand increasing, and fuel price staying low, THAI still manages to lose more than 1 million US dollars per day. One has to be amazed at how poorly the company is run.

Thai have two flights a day BKK/LHR again now, we flew TG910 on Friday they called out rows 82/66 no one moved.
If there were more than 200 passengers on our flight i would be surprised.

Prayut 'dissatisfied' with THAI chief's performance

Published: 18/11/2015 at 04:25 AM
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...ef-performance

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is "dissatisfied" with the first-year performance of Charamporn Jotikasthira, president of loss-making Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) as the national carrier braces for record losses this year, senior government sources said Tuesday.
Mr Charamporn, a 58-year-old veteran banker and computer scientist, will be given another six months to turn the 55-year-old airline's fortunes around or face the axe, a cabinet source said.
"Currently the prime minister is dissatisfied with Mr Charamporn," said the policy-making source, who declined to be identified.
"He may survive this year's evaluation and be given another six months to prove himself. If he continues to miss targets, he won't survive the next evaluation round."
After a rosy five-year record as president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Mr Charamporn was appointed THAI chief last December promising a "big change".
He pledged to make the state-owned airline "undergo an urgent transformation" over three reorganisational stages, focused on preventing further losses, strengthening the firm's competitive business advantage, and building long-term sustainable growth.
"The plan for the debt-ridden airline includes revenue generation, rigorous financial discipline, customer service improvement and human resource development," Mr Charamporn said in the airline's 2014 annual report.
But the company last week posted 18.1 billion baht in losses for the first nine months, up a sharp 97.2% on the same period last year, raising the likelihood the flag carrier's losses this year could equal or exceed the all-time high of 21.3 billion baht in losses posted in 2008.
The massive loss has forced the company's top eight executives to accept salary cuts of up to 10% in months that the company suffers losses in the future.
High salaries and other perks for top management at THAI were among the points of concern that Mr Charampon has failed to rein in, Transport Ministry officials said Tuesday.
His decision to hire a foreign aviation expert as a personal consultant for six months, paying him 10.5 million baht, as well as hire a consultancy firm to restructure the airline, also upset the board and some cabinet ministers, the sources said.
Mr Charamporn did not answer requests for comment by the Bangkok Post.
Speaking after a THAI board meeting last week, Mr Charamporn said the airline registered 9.89 billion baht in losses in the third quarter of this year -- 4.23 billion baht of which stemmed from aviation business operations and 4.63 billion baht from exchange rate fluctuations and damages to assets and aircraft.
Meanwhile, former THAI president Piyasvasti Amranand has denied accusations the airline's losses in 2015 were partly caused by fuel-hedging decisions he had made during his October 2009-June 2012 term.
The airline reported a net profit of 6.23 billion baht in 2012, net losses of 12.05 billion baht in 2013 and 15.61 billion baht in 2014.
During a speech to lawmakers and policy-makers last month, Gen Prayut vowed to tackle inefficiency at loss-making and debt-ridden state enterprises, telling their executives to consider cutting their salaries as a means of reducing losses, particularly at Thai Airways.
"I will overhaul them. Each organisation hires a large number of people, but when they introduced early retirement incentive programmes to cut costs, only low-level staff left, not high-level executives," Gen Prayut said.
THAI said last week that staff cuts, outlined in its "Mutual Separation Plan, saved the company 3.722 billion baht in the first nine months of this year.

Prayut 'dissatisfied' with THAI chief's performance

This chap is perpetually dissatisfied. :D

He has "sacrificed" "everything" for the "good" of the "kingdom".

Be nice if he ran the army with the same "zeal".:rolleyes:

There are assets on the balance sheet as well. ;)