Carriers under the cosh
published : 20 Jul 2021 at 06:50
8 Aircraft belonging to carriers Thai Smile Airways, AirAsia and Thai Airways are seen parked on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi airport on Monday. Wichan Charoenkiatpakul
Thai AirAsia views the forced lockdown as jeopardising its financial status as the aviation industry has been struggling without government support for over a year as it questioned the ability of the government to collect tax when large businesses have been left to die.
Tassapon Bijleveld, executive chairman of Asia Aviation (AAV), the largest shareholder of Thai AirAsia (TAA), said liquidity is at a critical stage and it has had to seek emergency borrowing to help pay payroll this month.
The Phuket sandbox scheme is still fixing inconvenient regulations, particularly regarding digital competency, in the buildup to its planned reopening on July 1. However, important short-haul markets are likely to be absent in the early months of the scheme.
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Airlines seek meeting with Prayut
2
published : 13 May 2021 at 07:08
2 A view inside Suvarnabhumi airport at 5pm on Monday. The number of travellers has fallen by half since the virus outbreak. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
Seven airlines are seeking to meet Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to ask about the government s stand on their request for long-awaited soft loans.
The Thai Airlines Association said on Wednesday it would like to discuss with Gen Prayut any progress on the proposal, which if granted, would throw domestic carriers their much-needed financial lifeline.
Seven local airlines Thai AirAsia and Thai AirAsia X, Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, Thai Smile Airways, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet Air have sought 14 billion baht in soft loans to sustain their operations. Even that sum was a substantial reduction on the 24 billion baht they requested last year.
BANGKOK, 13 May 2021: Thai Smile has cut domestic services in response to severe restrictions imposed by provinces across Thailand to fight the surge of Covid infections.
A virtual lockdown is in place in most of Thailand’s 77 provinces, although daily infections are slowing. Daily cases countrywide, as of 12 May, reached 1,983 with 34 deaths. Fatalities stand at 486. Most of the daily increases occur in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Cumulative cases since March 2020 reached 88,907.
Restrictions vary by province, but airline travel between
Bangkok and the provinces has dropped by around 90% during the first quarter of
the year.
Thai Smile Airways said in a statement released on 12 May