A Thai Airways Quote

[chiang mai]

We flew back from Chiang Mai to Phuket today, lovely flight and no change of planes in Bangkok - very convenient and a good flight. But the plane was late by about one hour, as indeed it had been on the outbound leg, but on that occasion it was more than three hours late. The reason for the delays, well, according to the spokesperson it was all to do with Airbus Industries.

The "captain" apologized for the delay and stated, and I para phrase here but keep as near to the message as I can recall: we're sorry for the delay but the reason is because during this high season all our planes are flying to so many different destinations that we don't have enough planes. We've ordered some more planes but the manufacturer has said they won't be ready for another two years. My fellow passengers, mostly as far as I could tell were Nordic and Western Europeans and many groaned or laughed at the "captain's" remarks.

All very humorous and very sad at the same time that Thai Airways thinks passengers will buy that nonsense and that professional pilots will follow adhere to the party line.

[mogoso]

We flew back from Chiang Mai to Phuket today, lovely flight and no change of planes in Bangkok - very convenient and a good flight. But the plane was late by about one hour, as indeed it had been on the outbound leg, but on that occasion it was more than three hours late. The reason for the delays, well, according to the spokesperson it was all to do with Airbus Industries.

The "captain" apologized for the delay and stated, and I para phrase here but keep as near to the message as I can recall: we're sorry for the delay but the reason is because during this high season all our planes are flying to so many different destinations that we don't have enough planes. We've ordered some more planes but the manufacturer has said they won't be ready for another two years. My fellow passengers, mostly as far as I could tell were Nordic and Western Europeans and many groaned or laughed at the "captain's" remarks.

All very humorous and very sad at the same time that Thai Airways thinks passengers will buy that nonsense and that professional pilots will follow adhere to the party line.

Airbus press release dated 15 January 2004, states that "Thanks to these orders, Airbus is able to maintain a high delivery backlog of 1,454 aircraft, which at current rates, represents some five years of production."

It would depend on when the airline placed the orders, at the rate of plane manufactering vs a goal of 300 planes per year. 2003 they produced 305 planes. They have now in production their new monster aircraft and it'll further clog up the schedule.

I wouldn't doubt the pilot too much, sounds like he might be accurate.

[Rinrada]

Diddled and fiddled...should have got their orders in earlier like.....Singapore Airways.... did...

Unlike Mangos they ...Jumbo Jets...farang magic...dont grow on trees.....

[Cobalt60]

Just reading in my Sunday rag, there is a world shortage of bolts affecting the aviation industry, seven month lead time, how bizzare.

[siam-i-am]

We flew back from Chiang Mai to Phuket today, lovely flight and no change of planes in Bangkok - very convenient and a good flight. But the plane was late by about one hour, as indeed it had been on the outbound leg, but on that occasion it was more than three hours late. The reason for the delays, well, according to the spokesperson it was all to do with Airbus Industries.

The "captain" apologized for the delay and stated, and I para phrase here but keep as near to the message as I can recall: we're sorry for the delay but the reason is because during this high season all our planes are flying to so many different destinations that we don't have enough planes. We've ordered some more planes but the manufacturer has said they won't be ready for another two years. My fellow passengers, mostly as far as I could tell were Nordic and Western Europeans and many groaned or laughed at the "captain's" remarks.

All very humorous and very sad at the same time that Thai Airways thinks passengers will buy that nonsense and that professional pilots will follow adhere to the party line.

Go to any Thai library and you will see Brothers Grimm under Non-fiction. Fact?

Not really but it could be.

[londonthai]

they could charter aircrafts from some somewhere else - hight season in thailand, law season some other countries

[cclub75]

Thai Airways new planes?

He's lying.

Indeed.

When Emirates and other companies are on a buying frenzy and sign purchase orders... Thai Airways is... talking.

Sure, they have also a plan to buy... many new aircrafts... Unfortunatly, it's just a plan. A hot potato left to the new gvt (Bangkok Post). They are not even sure about the type of aircrafts needed....

Other technical point : they would like to lease some of those new planes...

Bottom line : they are totally broke. And because of the delivery times... And because of the complexity of thai politics... it's likely that Thai Airways will suffer...

[CbrLad]

We flew back from Chiang Mai to Phuket today, lovely flight and no change of planes in Bangkok - very convenient and a good flight. But the plane was late by about one hour, as indeed it had been on the outbound leg, but on that occasion it was more than three hours late. The reason for the delays, well, according to the spokesperson it was all to do with Airbus Industries.

The "captain" apologized for the delay and stated, and I para phrase here but keep as near to the message as I can recall: we're sorry for the delay but the reason is because during this high season all our planes are flying to so many different destinations that we don't have enough planes. We've ordered some more planes but the manufacturer has said they won't be ready for another two years. My fellow passengers, mostly as far as I could tell were Nordic and Western Europeans and many groaned or laughed at the "captain's" remarks.

All very humorous and very sad at the same time that Thai Airways thinks passengers will buy that nonsense and that professional pilots will follow adhere to the party line.

Airbus press release dated 15 January 2004, states that "Thanks to these orders, Airbus is able to maintain a high delivery backlog of 1,454 aircraft, which at current rates, represents some five years of production."

It would depend on when the airline placed the orders, at the rate of plane manufactering vs a goal of 300 planes per year. 2003 they produced 305 planes. They have now in production their new monster aircraft and it'll further clog up the schedule.

I wouldn't doubt the pilot too much, sounds like he might be accurate.

It is a good line that one. Funny indeed. But as for orders and order back logs it doesn't quite work as easily as you have suggested. Just because they have a back-log doesn't mean they will build them as fast as they can and it doens't mean a new order cannot jump into slots in the middle. Jetstar for example has just annouced a new order for 60 odd A320 series aircraft with some of the first of the NEW orders due in the middle of next year. Quite often an airlines will stagger the time delay to suit their own operational requirements.

As for Thai they do have new aircraft on order but as far as I can see all are on track for their orginal delivery dates, as clearly agreed to by Thai at time of order.

[chanchao]

Thai Airways new planes?

He's lying.

Well, he's making ridiculous excuses, but I wouldn't call it lying. Because TG *ARE* waiting for some A380 Super Jumbo's ; of course those wouldn't fly the BKK-HKT route, however the A380's would likely replace some routes currently flown by 777's, and those *DO* actually qualify to go CNX-HKT. (and then continue internationally again)

Of course TG could just lease a bunch of planes if they were really short... Airbus would pretty much pay for it too.

But the sad fact of the matter is that TG is lowering themselves to Low Cost Airline standards, but without the prices to make up for it.

[chiang mai]

I'm sure that Thai does have planes on order but the thing that struck me and apparently my fellow passengers was that the pilot needed to explain to us that the real cause for the plane being late was the fault of Airbus and not the plane movements and scheduling group in Thai Airways. If number of planes versus number of routes doesn't equate then surely you trim your schedules rather than generate three hundred p*ssed off passengers several times a day.

[MrSquigle]

I wonder what else they are 'told' to do and or say that don't make much sense.

[Ping]

Aside from the A380s, they also have eight A330s on order but these are scheduled for delivery next year. Interestingly, though, they currently have four B737-400s leased-out to Nok Air - just the ticket for the Chiangmai-Phuket route. So if there is indeed a shortage, it was poor strategic planning notwithstanding any unforseen delivery delays. However, is it possible the OP was taking the pilot a little too literally - perhaps the comment may have been 'tongue-in-cheek'?

[kmart]

The real reason they were late is that they had to stop to pick some mushrooms. Fair enough.

[naka]

Thanks for that info Captain.

Now would you mind changing my catheter !

Naka.

[PhilHarries]

You wait until they get issued with the British Rail staff handbook of excuses.

"This is your captain speaking and I would like to advise passengers on this Chiang Mai to Bangkok service that we are running one hour late due to flying through the wrong type of clouds"

[simon43]

I flew from BKK to Phuket last week on Nok-Air and was very surprised to hear an Oxford English accent from the purser doing the annoucements. Apparently, Nok Air has 'wet-leased' (ie plane and flightcrew) from a European company an additional aircraft to handle the high season demand.

Simon

Edited November 26, 2007 by simon43

[Rimmer]

A little off topic but a few more aviation funnies

Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of

humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems, known as "squawks," submitted by pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers.

P = The problem logged by the pilot.

S = The solution and action taken by the engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.

S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except autoland very rough.

S: Autoland not installed on this aircraft.

P: No. 2 propeller seeping prop fluid.

S: No. 2 propeller seepage normal. Nos. 1, 3 and 4 propellers lack

normal seepage.

P: Something loose in cockpit.

S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.

S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200-fpm descent.

S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.

S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.

S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.

S: That's what they're there for!

P: IFF inoperative.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windscreen.

S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.

S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.

S: Target radar reprogrammed with words.

P: Mouse in cockpit.

S: Cat installed.

____________________________

[Ricardo]

We've ordered some more planes but the manufacturer has said they won't be ready for another two years.

All very humorous and very sad at the same time that Thai Airways thinks passengers will buy that nonsense and that professional pilots will follow adhere to the party line.

The A380 is of course delayed in production, but the captain may have been referring to other aircraft-types, do you think he realises that each type comes off a different production-line so that, depending what you've ordered, the delays may be different ? The mental image of a one-line-makes-all-types factory, for such a complex product, is somewhat amusing.

And the idea that you can't just walk into the showroom, put your money down, and walk out with a new airplane would probably already be familiar, to many farang passengers. You would assume that Thai Airways management would also have expected some delivery-delay, when considering their new fleet-orders and commercial plans, which is why most airlines plan their fleets some years ahead ?

Perhaps Thai Airways might be well advised to look at reducing the turnround-time of their fleet, it currently looks like about 45 minutes at CNX, compared with 20-30 minutes for the low-cost airlines, who load/unload bags individually, rather than in convenient pre-filled cargo-containers used on TG's wide-bodied planes. Although this longer turn-round does help them maintain a better on-time record.

It would also be interesting to look at time spent on-the-ground, at their main-base, to see what extra utilisation might be squeezed out of their existing fleet ? No doubt this has already been done, in the case of this well-managed but largely-state-owned company, and one would never see aircraft sitting at the Swamp for long ?

One of the key advantages of european charter-airlines was always that, apart from a couple of day-time return-runs down to Spain or Greece, they would also usually operate a night-time return-flight. This resulted in cheaper tickets for passengers, who were often prepared to fly mid-week or overnight, to save on the cost of their package-holiday.

[mrbojangles]

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

[tso310]

I flew from BKK to Phuket last week on Nok-Air and was very surprised to hear an Oxford English accent from the purser doing the annoucements. Apparently, Nok Air has 'wet-leased' (ie plane and flightcrew) from a European company an additional aircraft to handle the high season demand.

Simon

Leased from XL Airways UK for the winter season. Crew are included in the lease as its for a B737-800 which no Thai airlines use.