Thai Airways expects full post-floods recovery in January

Thai Airways International is confident of a full recovery within the next few weeks from the Bangkok floods, which caused a big drop in traffic in November and a smaller drop so far this month.

Thai Airways reported a load factor of only 61% for Nov-2011, down 11 ppts from the 72% load factor recorded in Nov-2010. Speaking to CAPA at last week's Star Alliance event in Ethiopia, Thai Airways president Piyasvasti Amranand called the 61% figure "terrible" but says December will be "a lot better than November" although the carrier will still not be able to meet its pre-floods projection of a 75% load factor for Dec-2011. Mr Piyassvasti expects the carrier to end this month with a load factor of nearly 70%, marking a significant improvement over November but not a full recovery. "January looks better," he adds.