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Thai Airways, Airbus agree on compensation deal

BANGKOK - Thai Airways International agreed on Wednesday to buy eight mid-size Airbus A330s at a heavily discounted price as part of a deal with the European planemaker over delays in delivery of its A380 superjumbos.

Thai Airways officials declined to give the final price for the aircraft but said they had started negotiations on the basis of the planes costing 100 million dollars each.

“The discount per aircraft is more than 10 million dollars each but we cannot reveal the exact amount,” Thai Airways chairman Chalit Pukbhasuk said.

The planes are set to be delivered over the next four years, with the first arriving in October 2008, he said.

The deal is part of an Airbus package to compensate Thai Airways for the delayed delivery of six A380 superjumbos, which had been put back to 2009 from 2011.

Chalit said Thai Airways would now receive its first A380 in September 2010 but with the rest arriving by 2012.

Airbus had apologised to Thai Airways for the delay but the flag carrier had threatened to cancel its order if compensation was not agreed.