Thai Airways has reportedly sold five of its decommissioned Airbus A340 aircraft to an undisclosed buyer, earning $9.6 million, according to a report by Thai newspaper, Nation.
The national carrier is still waiting for the country’s transport ministry’s final approval to sell the planes, Thai Airways’ chief technical officer Cherdphan Chotikhun was quoted as saying in the report.
In an emailed statement to AeroTime, Thai Airways confirmed the sale of the A340 aircraft. The airline added, however, that it could not disclose the information about the buyer due to the agreement.
Having been parked for 13 years, five Airbus A340 aircraft were sold at a higher price than planned, Chotikhun added. He also highlighted that the sale was attributed to the airline’s successful financial and business restructuring plan, which was seen as fundamental for the airline that has been reporting losses since 2013.
Thai Airways has been putting older aircraft up for sale. According to a Thai Aircraft Trading sales notice, the airline is currently selling 14 aircraft, including 12 Boeing 777s and two Airbus A380s. The sales notice also revealed that a total of nine A430s have been already sold to customers.
It is worth noting that Thai Airways originally had 10 A340s in its fleet but the Royal Thai Air Force bought an A340-500 plane in May 2016, leaving nine aircraft parked.
The airline currently has a total of 43 aircraft in its fleet, consisting of 23 Boeing 777s, 12 Airbus A350s, and eight Boeing 787 Dreamliners, according to Planespotters.net data.