Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) reported a net profit of 7.8 billion baht for the fist quarter of 2009 despite 14.0 billion baht lower earning than the same period a year ago, helped by an effective cost cuts program after the company adopting a corporate improvement plan and cutoff annual bonus and raise.

The airliner said it could save as much as 3.0 billion baht in staffers spending for the period, while profit was 5.635 billion baht higher, up 255.1 percent comparing with the first quarter of 2008.

Thai Airways International’s total earning for the period was 41.27 billion baht, down 26.1 percent from a year ago, but spending on staffers has been reducing significantly by almost a billion baht from a year ago.

The company’s cost cutting plan involved in:

• Reducing flights and spending per staff staying at the destination terminals, as well as maintenance cost per aircraft.
• Eliminating redundant investment projects by 10 percent a year.
• Reducing management’s benefit package from meeting allowance to free tickets allowance to executives’ vehicle allowance, especially vehicle allowance effectively from 75.0 thousand a month to 35.0 thousand a month.