Inside Thai Airways' U-Tapao Hangar

Serving predominantly as a hub for base maintenance, Thai Airways carries out a full range of services on widebody aircraft including the Boeing 737, 747, 777, Airbus A330, A340 and A380. For widebodies, it operates adopts a two-bay system.

The joint venture between Airbus and Thai Airways to build a new MRO complex at U-Tapao Airport was in doubt after Airbus withdrew from the project with the COVID-19 crisis cited as one of the factors. Doubts first emerged after the airframe OEM failed to submit its proposal for the 50-50 partnership.

More A380s are likely to follow with Thai Airways operating six of the superjumbo aircraft in total.

At U-Tapao, Thai also runs a workshop area which includes sheet metal, mechanical and passenger seat repair shops.

In its current setup, Thai employs 361 staff at its U-Tapao facility, covering roles from licensed aircraft engineers, non-destructive testing engineers, technical inspectors and management.

The proposed bidding for the Airbus-Thai Airways U-Tapao MRO joint venture has been postponed until April after the airframe OEM failed to submit its proposal, which local media attributed to the novel coronavirus pandemic.