Nok Air has secured an agreement from Boeing to upgrade the flying range of some of its Boeing 737-800s to allow it to operate over a longer distance.
The upgrade extends the range of its B737-800 fleet by about 900 nautical miles, or 1,667 kilometres, for the same payload versus the existing capabilities in the same configurations.
The upgrade only comes on paper as a technical specification change rather than any physical modification of the twin-engine narrow-body jet, Nok Air chief executive Piya Yodmanee told the Bangkok Post yesterday.
The change sees a higher maximum take-off weight (MTOW), the maximum weight of the aircraft and loads allowed for a pilot to attempt a take-off.
The higher MTOW rating, approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration, comes with a fee for the SET-listed budget airline. The fee was not disclosed, but the airline must pay higher overfly and landing charges because of the increased capability of the aircraft.
The "upgraded" B737-800s will permit Nok Air to fly to mainland China as part of the airline's strategic move to expand its charter services, a major part of its turnaround attempt.
The airline is expected to use three newly delivered aircraft from Boeing's Seattle facilities in December, said Mr Piya.
Nok Air operates on average 40 charter flights per week to almost 20 cities in China from four key Thai airports: Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and recently U-tapao.
Nok Air has 22 B737-800s in service with the latest delivered last month. Most of Nok Air's existing B737-800 aircraft have MTOW ratings that allow them to fly about four hours.
The airline has deferred the acquisition of eight new Boeing 737 Max 8 jets and will phase out seven existing aircraft as part of a fleet rationalisation.
The move is part of an ongoing business rehabilitation as the cash-strapped airline looks to turn around its balance sheet after combined losses of 4.93 billion baht from 2014 to June 2017.
The fleet rationalisation is aimed at shedding existing aircraft capacity and curbing additional capacity to match traffic demand.
The original deal with Boeing from 2014 called for Nok Air to take the aircraft in three lots over three time spans. Nok Air is allowed to defer the acquisition by one year for each of three lots.
The result means the airline will take delivery of the first two B737 Max 8 jets in 2019 instead of 2018.
