Thai Airways to Seek Bankruptcy

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From Khaosod English

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s flag carrier Thai Airways International will file a plan for restructuring its business with the Central Bankruptcy Court, a government spokeswoman said Monday.

Narumon Pinyosinwat said the plan submitted by the State Enterprise Policy Office to salvage the airline will be submitted Tuesday to for Cabinet approval. She said she had no details of the plan.

Thai Airways had been suffering financially even before the coronavirus crisis brought travel and tourism in the country to a near standstill.

The airline initially sought a 54 billion baht ($1.7 billion) bailout loan from the government. There is speculation that its reorganization under bankruptcy could take the government’s ownership share below 50%, effecting a form of privatization. All rescue options were likely to lead in cuts in staff, fleet and flights.

Thai Airways logged losses of 12 billion baht ($374.3 million) in 2019, 11.6 billion baht ($361.9 million) in 2018 and 2.11 billion baht ($65.8 million) in 2017.

Thai media reports say it is carrying a debt burden of almost 300 billion baht ($9.4 billion).

The airline stopped all its flights at the beginning of April as Thailand imposed strict precautions to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Almost all its staff were put on leave at greatly reduced salaries. The government last week extended to the end of June a ban on arrivals on international passenger flights, ruling out their immediate resumption.

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Extracted from Bloomberg News

Emirates Considers Cutting 30,000 Jobs, Retire A380s Faster

Emirates Group is considering slashing about 30,000 jobs, the deepest cuts yet in a global airline industry that’s been forced into near-hibernation by the coronavirus pandemic.

The world’s biggest long-haul carrier could shrink a payroll that stood at 105,000 in March by as much as 30% as it reduces costs and realigns its operation to cope with a travel downturn expected to last for years, according to people familiar with the matter. The state-owned group raised $1.2 billion in new financing in the first quarter and is seeking aid from Dubai.

Emirates is also considering accelerating the retirement of its fleet of A380s, the massive double-decker jets that can seat more than 500 passengers, some of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public.

Emirates, the biggest operator of the Airbus SE super-jumbo aircraft, said it is reviewing “costs and resourcing” levels against projections as it prepares to resume service after an almost two-month grounding.

The early retirement of some A380s -- the linchpin of a strategy that made Dubai the leading hub for flights around the globe -- could potentially speed the end-game for the biggest-ever commercial jetliner. Airbus was forced to end the program last year after failing to agree with Emirates on terms, though it still has eight more to deliver.

State-owned Emirates, the biggest customer for the A380, dropped it from its long-term plans, ordered smaller wide-body aircraft and reviewed its route network, while increasing cooperation with regional discount carrier Flydubai -- also state-owned.

Emirates plans to mostly rely on its Boeing Co. 777 wide-body jets during the recuperation period, said one of the people. The airline has 155 of the smaller U.S. planes in its fleet, compared with 115 of A380s.

 

[TotallyOz]

The airline industry is a mess right now. It is going to be hard for so many to recover. It will be interesting to see which ones expand and absorb.