BANGKOK - THAI Airways International said on Tuesday its net profit dropped nearly 30 per cent in the fiscal year to September 2007 due to weaker sales of aircraft and a fall in foreign currency gains.

Net profit totaled 6.34 billion baht (S$269 million), down 29.5 per cent year-on-year with pre-tax profit falling 28.6 per cent to 9.14 billion baht, the flag carrier said.

Thai Airways said weaker profits were mainly due to technical factors such as sluggish aircraft sales and a fall in foreign currency gains.

'We had one-off factors that pressured our profits. But overall our performance was better than last year,' a company official said, adding Thai Airways filled 77 per cent of seats, the highest in recent years.

The airline carried about 20 million passengers during the year, up three per cent year-on-year, said the official, who declined to be named.

Sales rose 7.5 per cent to a record 192.03 billion baht, the company said, adding some 93 per cent of its revenue came from international flights.

Flights from Bangkok to major European cities and those from the Thai capital to New Delhi, as well as to Tokyo, were among the most profitable routes during the year, he said.

Operating costs rose 5.3 per cent to 179.2 billion baht, and jet fuel costs alone accounted for 33 per cent of its total operation expenses.

'Luckily, a rise in fuel costs was modest this year, rising about five to six percent,' the official said.

Thai Airways saw fuel costs soaring over 30 percent in the previous fiscal year to September 2006.

The airline earned only 500 million baht from sales of three old planes during the fiscal year, compared with two billion baht in sales from four cargo planes a year ago, the official said.

Foreign currency gains stood at 1.2 billion baht, sharply down from 6.2 billion baht a year earlier. -- AFP