TAWNF - Thai Airways Swaps Rolls-Royce For General Electric In Billion-Dollar Order For New Fleet | Benzinga
Thai Airways International Pcl (OTC:TAWNF) has decided to switch from Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc (OTC:RYCEY) to General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) for its next-generation widebody engines, dealing a blow to the UK company’s efforts to enhance profitability.
What Happened: The Bangkok-based airline announced an order for 45 Boeing Co. aircraft equipped with engines manufactured by GE, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The order also includes an unspecified number of options. This decision comes after Rolls-Royce faced public criticism from Thai Airways’ CEO over pricing concessions in November.
Rolls-Royce has been striving to improve profitability under CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, leading to a tougher stance with customers on new deals. This approach has led to some friction, and the Thai order marks the first public loss for Rolls-Royce due to this strategy.
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The new aircraft, which will be added to Thai Airways’ fleet between 2027 and 2033, will not affect the airline’s ongoing repayment plans under its debt rehabilitation process.
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