Lack of bids leaves fate of Airbus plane up in the air

[snoop1130]

Lack of bids leaves fate of Airbus plane up in the air

By Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai

The Nation

 

File photo

 

The Legal Execution Department yesterday decided to call off the auction of a 270-seat Airbus aircraft.

 

The future of the aircraft, which had been scheduled for auction with a starting price of Bt30 million, is now unknown after Legal Execution Department cancelled the auction after no bids were received.

 

The Airbus plane became the first commercial aircraft up for bidding after it was seized in a civil lawsuit filed by the law firm Watson Farley and Williams Co (Thailand) against Asia Connect Airline and its executive Sakkarat Chanthraporn.

 

Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, director-general of the department, said the auction had previously attempted to sell the aircraft on five separate occasions but no one had submitted a bid despite a reduction of the starting price by about 70 per cent, or Bt21 million. 

 

The department also decided to cancel the sixth auction scheduled for December 20.

 

“The department will hold a meeting of creditors to learn whether they want to reduce the price or to continue the auction. For the time being, they have asked for 10 days to consider the next step,” she said.

 

The starting price of the aircraft was reduced during the five auctions in accordance with the department’s auction rules.

 

A representative of Watson Farley and Williams had previously said the firm did not know what to do if no one wanted to buy the aircraft, as the defendants had said they had no other assets to pay their debts.

 

A winning bidder would also have to pay Bt10,700 per day in rent for the plane’s parking space. That fee reached Bt4.2 million in September.

 

The aircraft belonged to the air charter firm PC Air, which hit the headlines after the plane was impounded at Incheon International Airport in South Korea over a failure to pay fuel and airport fees, stranding more than 400 passengers.

 

The aircraft’s last trip was from South Korea on January 13, 2016, after which it was impounded as the firm filed for bankruptcy.

 

PC Air had drawn public attention after it offered flight attendant jobs to transgender people.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30332808

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-29

[rkidlad]

5 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The future of the aircraft, which had been scheduled for auction with a starting price of Bt30 million, is now unknown after Legal Execution Department cancelled the auction after no bids were received.

Not so much a 'lack of' bids as it is no bids at all. 

 

Just keep it in the hangar with it advertised on Craig's List. For every month you don't sell it, add another 500k to price. That will work. 

[lonewolf99]

That must be the auctioneer in front of the plane and someone not bidding with their back to the camera to give it an authentic feel....of failure.

 

Does PC stand for Politically Correct ? Hence the equal opportunity for any gender for the employees.....
I am sure a Thai short haul airline had lady boys as cabin staff in the recent past or was that wishful thinking ? By others not me.............

 

p.s. the plane  looks pleased to be there.

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by lonewolf99

[Darren palmer]

13 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

A winning bidder would also have to pay Bt10,700 per day in rent for the plane’s parking space. That fee reached Bt4.2 million in September.

Why the hell would anybody agree to pay a parking bill of over 4 mill ?, the bill should start the day they buy, is it any wonder no one is bidding, ....you can't make this stuff up

 

[JAG]

The fate of the 'plane is "up in the air".

 

Which is something that 'plane will probably never be again!

[Cadbury]

Used derelict planes are like rice and rubber. Put them in a shed and wait until the price is right. Proven marketing practice in Thailand.

[JAG]

I see it appears to be parked adjacent to the other collection of derelict aircraft at Don Muang - The Orient Thai line up!

 

Remember One To Go - not come back...

Flew on one of their 747s once, from Chiang Rai to Bangkok. Not because of the numbers travelling, I think it was the only one that would start in the morning! My giddy aunt - even the flight attendants looked scared!

 

Then there was Phuket Air...

[rkidlad]

37 minutes ago, Darren palmer said:

Why the hell would anybody agree to pay a parking bill of over 4 mill ?, the bill should start the day they buy, is it any wonder no one is bidding, ....you can't make this stuff up

 

I had a friend who went to look at an apartment. It hadn't been cleaned. He was told that if he wanted to take the apartment he could pay to have it cleaned first. The mind boggles. 

[wakeupplease]

Park it next to the BK buses and fire engines and move on.

[rodknock]

hey, you forgot about the aircraft carrier which is useless and the air ship that was a waist of money except to the people who received brown bags.

oh how the s--t flows here.

[Thian]

25 minutes ago, wakeupplease said:

Park it next to the BK buses and fire engines and move on.

Are those 100 buses parked somewhere now? And the other 400 which were on a vessel before the coast, have they ever been on land here?

 

Don't hear anything about the buses lately, it's a year ago now since they were "bought".

[Dipterocarp]

I looked this one up when it was news before. This A310 is an inefficient older model. Only operated in certain markets like Iran/South America and the mullahs are getting a giant new aircraft orders thanks to Obama.

Even if the bid cost is nothing they are scrap value, nobody will pay the parking fees. DMK airport needs to write this one off, maybe turn it into a restaurant.


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[Chang_paarp]

At an accumulated 4.2 mil B parking fee it has been sitting for 13 months, which makes the effective reserve 34.2 mil B.

 

I wonder if any maintenance has been done in that time? It the plane even airworthy?

 

Maybe they can use it for training for the maintenance hub that has been proposed at U-Tapao.

[RandolphGB]

Nowhere in the article does it say what model of Airbus this plane is.

[steve187]

36 minutes ago, RandolphGB said:

Nowhere in the article does it say what model of Airbus this plane is.

no but PC air only own/owned one aircraft an airbus A321-200 , HS-PCC delivered new 30/5/86 been though a handful of Chinese and Vietnamese hands over the year

[koo]

13 hours ago, steve187 said:

no but PC air only own/owned one aircraft an airbus A321-200 , HS-PCC delivered new 30/5/86 been though a handful of Chinese and Vietnamese hands over the year

The aircraft is A310-200  (not A321), checked from https://www.planespotters.net/airline/PC-Air . Also, the picture in the news article shows an A310.

 

The A321 would have been a (pretty) modern aircraft, but sadly the A310 is very old and thirsty.  That is the reason no one places bids on it. Better write it off and make Chang cans from it.

[tolsti]

depending on the conditions it has been stored/left outside in, then there may be internal parts that can be recycled to be sold to other current type users. 

 

there are some... A310 current users

[coulson]

On 11/29/2017 at 7:51 PM, snoop1130 said:

A winning bidder would also have to pay Bt10,700 per day in rent for the plane’s parking space. That fee reached Bt4.2 million in September

Then it must be around 5 million now?!

 

15 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

I wonder if any maintenance has been done in that time? It the plane even airworthy

Absolutely no chance. Regular maintenance was bad enough up until early 2017, why would it be any different in the parking lot.

 

[rickudon]

Only use these days would be for air-freight, and probably only places where you wouldn't want to risk a valuable aircraft. Not sure what the scrap value would be .....

[Dipterocarp]

Most airlines lease aircraft, they are backed by investors. A310s were cutting edge in 1983, now they are basically obsolete. None have been delivered new since 1998 according to wikipedia even though Iran Air had an official order on the books until 2008, they were not produced.

The few airlines that still operate them likely own fully so the costs are maintenence and fuel. Even FEDEX still flies a few, really think it costs them $80 dollars to send a letter? It fits into their cost structure only as new aircraft are so costly.Eventually the white elephant of DMK will be scrapped, somebody may want the usable parts but no way DMK airport is to get the parking fees. Typical myopic thinking eventually they will have to pay to have somebody dragg the hulk away to make Singha beer cans.




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