Thai Airways must submit rehabilitation plan by end-May: official

[snoop1130]

Thai Airways must submit rehabilitation plan by end-May: official

 

FILE PHOTO: Thai Airways airplanes park at the tarmac of the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, as Thailand will temporarily ban all passenger flights from landing in the country to curb the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Thailand, April 4, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Loss-making Thai Airways International Pcl (THAI.BK) must submit a rehabilitation plan by the end of the month if it wants the government to consider a rescue package, a senior official said on Tuesday.

 

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob set the deadline amid rising public sentiment against a state-backed loan for the national carrier, which was already facing financial trouble before the coronavirus outbreak, having reported losses since 2017.

 

“If (the plan) is not finished in May, then we cannot proceed,” Saksayam told reporters, adding that the proposal must address all of the 23 risk areas highlighted by the airline, and present a clear strategy for handling the new coronavirus, growing revenue, and managing expenses.

 

The carrier is seeking a 58.1 billion baht ($1.81 billion)loan, guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance, according to preliminary plans seen by Reuters and approved at the end of April by a state-enterprise committee, chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

 

Thai Airways is now coordinating with the Transport Ministry’s policy office on the rehabilitation plan, Saksayam said without elaborating.

 

The airline, which booked losses of 12.04 billion baht in 2019, last week asked the Stock Exchange of Thailand to allow it to delay submission of its January-March financial statements until August, citing difficulty in gathering information due to the pandemic.

 

“Oppose the use of taxpayer money to rescue Thai Airways endlessly, especially without a clear rehabilitation plan,” student activist, Tanawat Wongchai, posted on Twitter.

 

“Use the money to develop education, Thais will benefit. But use the money to rescue Thai Airways when people are suffering, what do Thai people get?” Tanawat said in a post, which was retweeted 8,100 times.

 

Thailand, which has reported a total of 3,017 cases of the coronavirus and 56 deaths, faces the loss of 10 million jobs as the outbreak drags on, with many people still waiting for government aid.

 

“The (Thai Airways) plan needs to be clear because the money is from public taxes … especially when the country needs to use budget for managing the virus and assisting the public,” the transport minister said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-12

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[z42]

Their plan probably reads something like "give us the money, and don't ask us anything else"

[bangkokfrog]

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The airline, which booked losses of 12.04 billion baht in 2019, last week asked the Stock Exchange of Thailand to allow it to delay submission of its January-March financial statements until August, citing difficulty in gathering information due to the pandemic.

How could the virus delay preparation of financial statements in the modern world... unless they have run out of quill pens, which is probably about right for Thai Airways? Me thinks this financial albatross's financial situation is so bad that the board don't want it released until after the inevitable bail-out. So sad.

[torturedsole]

Laughable and the poor Thais fund this monstrosity.  Let it burn.  

 

The company's roots are deeply embedded in corruption and always will be.  

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by torturedsole

[sammieuk1]

Rehabilitation plan 1)- dont bar and block your customers from asking a simple question of why are your excess baggage charges so extortionate  ????

[colinneil]

Thai airways rehab plan.

Going to hire experienced C.E.O.

Stop spongers from getting freebies.

Making staff do their jobs properly, and treat paying customers with respect.

Stop all senior management thinking they know best.

 

Ohh stupid me, i was dreaming again, will never happen.

[Grumpy John]

I'll be AMAZED if anything changes!   

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, torturedsole said:

Laughable and the poor Thais fund this monstrosity.  Let it burn.  

 

The company's roots are deeply embedded in corruption and always will be.  

 

 

Quote:  "...and the poor Thais fund this monstrosity."

 

Good point, all Thai people, including the poor pay taxes e.g. VAT. It's totally not appropriate that these taxes support a hi-so social club.

 

 

[steven100]

we all know TG is a huge failure, it seems debt & failure runs in the airline industry :

Virgin Australia airlines LLC servicing Australia is now in voluntary administration.

The company was asking for A$1.4 Billion ( 28 billion baht ) from the government, 

The company debt is A$7 Billion ( 143 Billion baht )  owed to 12,000 creditors .....  12,000 !!!

so just putting that into perspective .....  that is scary  !!   yikes.

[BobbyL]

Truly scandalous how much this company is funded / rescued by tax payers.

 

One day there will be a real exposé on THAI and how it has been ran. 

[klauskunkel]

THAI Rehab Plan:

See previous Rehab Plan, we will do the same. And the one before that. And the one before that one too.

Thank you, good bye.

signed: Air Marshall General Somethingorother

[Tracyb]

ANOTHER rehab plan?

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, BobbyL said:

Truly scandalous how much this company is funded / rescued by tax payers.

 

One day there will be a real exposé on THAI and how it has been ran. 

hope so.

[Srikcir]

Latest Thai Airways rehab plan (5th plan in last four years?) should be the last one it ever needs - Chapter 11.

[harada]

Thailand, the hub of rehab plans. ????????

[trainman34014]

As it is run by clueless people it's hard to imagine that they will have any clue about how to proceed with such a 'plan'.  Even if they were smart enough to compose such a plan, how on earth can they be trusted to implement it when their track record thus far has been abismal ?

 

The whole thing should be allowed to crash and within a few weeks nobody would miss it apart from all the Freeloaders (which includes the majority of the bone idle staff who are someone's Uncle, Auntie, Nephew, Niece or Mia Noi ). Let these useless 'Employee's' get themselves a proper job and actually work for a living instead of relying on Nepotism !   Other Airlines would pick up the Routes if they were viable and Thai Airways will only ever be remembered for it's better days when part owned by SAS.

[spornb]

AND what is going to happen to our overdue ticket refunds !!!!!

[rasmus5150]

53 minutes ago, spornb said:

AND what is going to happen to our overdue ticket refunds !!!!!

Unless you booked your ticket directly with TG, you should get your refund from the ticket agency and not the airline

[newatthis]

8 hours ago, steven100 said:

we all know TG is a huge failure, it seems debt & failure runs in the airline industry :

Virgin Australia airlines LLC servicing Australia is now in voluntary administration.

The company was asking for A$1.4 Billion ( 28 billion baht ) from the government, 

The company debt is A$7 Billion ( 143 Billion baht )  owed to 12,000 creditors .....  12,000 !!!

so just putting that into perspective .....  that is scary  !!   yikes.

Hopefully, the Aussie government will treat it in the same way as Ansett. Governments can't afford to keep bailing out failing companies.

[VocalNeal]

How can they possibly submit a rehabilitation plan when they don't even know when passengers will want to or be able to fly again. 

They don't have a Galaxy space programme to sell or an island in the Caribbean? 

[VocalNeal]

My plan? Keep the name and the logo etc but let Tony Fernandes? run it.

Or let Taksin run it from Dubai?

[Bob12345]

Rehab plan: give current board members a sign-off bonus and get a new group of admirals, generals, and airforce staff in... if that doesnt work, just repeat.

[Justgrazing]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

If (the plan) is not finished in May, then we cannot proceed,” Saksayam told reporters

in which case they will just give 'em more time .. Just as T A held the door open for Airbus about the projected maintenance partnership .. a number of times in the hope Airbus might reconsider .. and the answer was still no .. 

[JerseytoBKK]

just about every major airline in the world has gone running to their respective governments asking for bailouts. Those that didn't get them are in receivership/bankruptcy.

 

Oops, my bad... this thread isn't about an airline, it's about Thai bashing. Well then ,,,..  carry on

[GinBoy2]

1 hour ago, JerseytoBKK said:

just about every major airline in the world has gone running to their respective governments asking for bailouts. Those that didn't get them are in receivership/bankruptcy.

 

Oops, my bad... this thread isn't about an airline, it's about Thai bashing. Well then ,,,..  carry on

We must be reading a different thread, because I just see comments about an airline.

 

What you fail to realize is that prior to this disaster most airlines have been very profitable, yet TG has been deeply in the red for years, and as previous posters have pointed out thats not Thai bashing just fact.

 

Those that don't make money fold. Its not like there isn't a long list of failed airlines globally that are no longer with us.

 

One of the underlying truths of the airline business is that you invest millions to make pennies. Margins are wafer thin, even in the good times.

 

Its an industry that relies heavily on cash flow to service its debt and lease obligations, if that dries up, the sh**t hits the fan for everyone

 

Many posters focus on the freeloaders, the bloated staff numbers, all of which are true.

But the fundamental problem is the debt, which has to lie with management, which since this is a essentially run by the Ministry of Finance, since they own 51% of the 'company', and I use that word loosely, rests at the Governments feet.

 

Even in normal times most airlines have a mix of purchased and leased aircraft, which gives them the ability to manage costs from operating expenditure to capital depreciation if market conditions dictate.

 

TG is very rare in the airline world that its a wholly purchased fleet, but saying it's purchased with debt which which has to be serviced, it hasn't got the flexibility to return leased aircraft if revenue dries up.

 

TG has always been a bit of a trophy project.

Oooooh SQ has an A380, gotta have some of those, regardless of whether it made sense for their route structure.

 

Hence TG is the second most indebted airline in the world, and in the real world a real airline would have gone to the wall several years ago.

 

Thats not Thai bashing, thats just the hard commercial realities of the aviation business

Edited May 13, 2020 by GinBoy2

[steven100]

My plan : ok .. everybody out and close that door behind you ....  now where is that drum of kerosene

[steven100]

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

How can they possibly submit a rehabilitation plan when they don't even know when passengers will want to or be able to fly again. 

They don't have a Galaxy space programme to sell or an island in the Caribbean? 

yes .... when i read about RB trying to sell everything he's got to save his Virgin ... I had to laugh ...

what next, he'll throw in 20,000,000 free Virgin miles & his 2019 Range rover with a full tank of fuel.

[JerseytoBKK]

52 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

 

What you fail to realize is that prior to this disaster most airlines have been very profitable, yet TG has been deeply in the red for years, and as previous posters have pointed out thats not Thai bashing just fact.

 

 

Talk to me about India Air, Malaysia Air, Etihad, Avianca and many others that have been posting losses for a very long time. JAL was in trouble for a long time as were any many others. 

 

Poor decision making? How about the massive share buybacks by the US airlines? Instead of paying off debt and shoring up their financials, the CEO's spent billions on share buybacks to increase the EPS and their bonuses. 

 

Is Thai Air poorly run? Yes, of course it is. Most airlines that are captive (national airlines) or semi-captive are poorly run. 

 

As for Delta, they led the race to the bottom of the US airlines by gutting their frequent flyer program. They are the last airline I would fly in the US. 

[Sydebolle]

So the government expects those incapable thieves and opportunity chancers to work out a rehabilitation plan which would prevent the very same people from doing what they have been doing for the last 20+ years?

Like letting a wolf looking after a flock of sheep ............ 

[rasmus5150]

5 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

My plan? Keep the name and the logo etc but let Tony Fernandes? run it.

Or let Taksin run it from Dubai?

Let Taksin run it....???..... Then it will definitely be sold, without taxes and profits into his own pockets - like always.