Thai Air Asia will be able to keep its operations after Shin Corp set up a new joint venture to facilitate 51% Thai stake in Air Asia

Budget Airline Thai Air Asia has retained its aviation license after Shin Corp set up a new Thai joint venture Asia Aviation Company Ltd. to ensure the airline meets local requirements.

Shin Corp said in a statement presented to the Stock Exchange of Thailand that a new Thai company has been established to keep Thai Air Asia operating after the Shin-Temasek transaction put the company's shareholdings structure at risk. The law requires that Thai-registered airlines must be at least 51 percent Thai-owned.

In compliance with this law, an advance paid-up capital of 400 million baht will be injected into the new Thai company named Asia Aviation Co. Ltd. as a purchase of the Thai Air Asia shares from Shin Corp. The new set-up company will be 49 percent held by Shin holding and another 51 percent held by Mr. Sitthichai Weetathammanoon (สิทธิชัย วีระธรรมนูญ), the owner of a new Thai holding company.

Asia Aviation is expected to complete the purchasing process by mid-March.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 16 Febuary 2006

Guess our resident experts here blew that one..... ahh let Singapore low budget airlines get regional domination.