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Thai Airways Airbus A380-800 HS-TUA NRT - wikimedia.org
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25 Oct 2017 at 04:52
WRITER: POST REPORTERS
The board of Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) has
given the nod for the national carrier to enter a joint investment with Airbus
to develop a major maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at U-Tapao
International Airport.
THAI board chairman Areepong Bhoocha-Oom said the board
approved the joint investment proposal at a special meeting yesterday.
The board demanded management carefully draw up a
business plan regarding the investment and put it to the directors in the next
few days, he said.
If the board approves the business plan, it will be
forwarded to the cabinet for consideration in the next month.
"The join venture with Airbus will be a win-win
situation and the project will help advance the government's Eastern Economic
Corridor plan [EEC] and make it materialise," said Mr Areepong.
According to him, the MRO facility will be the first
state project for the EEC scheme pushed by the government.
Kobsak Pootrakool, vice minister at the Office of the
Prime Minister, said the project will cost 11 billion baht.
The next EEC projects are high-speed train links to three
airports -- U-Tapao, Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, he said.
The MRO facility, the so-called TG MRO complex, will be
an aircraft maintenance centre for the Asia-Pacific region.
It also aims to provide services for Airbus A380, the
world's current largest commercial passenger aircraft.
THAI and Airbus signed an initial cooperation agreement
in March on a joint investment study.
The THAI-Airbus project is part of the Thai government's
efforts to make Thailand a regional centre for aviation, which the project will
help advance.
Airbus decided to jointly invest in the project because
its own research found that Thailand was suitable in terms of both geography
and the direction of its development which supports and promises a bright
future for the aviation industry, according to the government.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has borrowed US$30
million (995.6 million baht), from Euro Commercial Paper Programme, for THAI's
refinancing scheme.
Original post: bangkokpost.com
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