Thailand's Cabinet has approved reducing the government's stake in financially troubled Thai Airways International to under 50 per cent as part of a reorganisation plan to be submitted to bankruptcy court.
The airline will lose its status as a state enterprise with the reduction in the 51 per cent share held by the Finance Ministry.
Thai Airways is carrying an estimated debt burden of almost 300 billion baht (USD 9.4 billion). It ran up losses of 12 billion baht (USD 374.3 million) in 2019, 11.6 billion baht in 2018 and 2.11 billion baht in 2017.
The Transport Ministry will submit a list of prospective business rehabilitation planners for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to choose from, Saksayam announced at a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting. The planner will be responsible for drafting a plan to be submitted to the Central Bankruptcy Court within a year.
The plan will also be submitted to US courts, Saksayam said, a standard practice for big multinational companies.
The airline initially sought a 54 billion baht (USD 1.7 billion) bailout loan from the government after virtually ceasing operations due to the coronavirus crisis.
It is not clear when its flights will resume. The government last week extended to the end of June a ban on arrivals on international passenger flights, ruling out their immediate resumption.
"This is the time for Thai Airways to be x-rayed to see what mistakes they have made and correct them, Saksayam said. The prime minister helped the firm once in 2015. And if Thai Airways had strictly followed the plan, we should not be here today."
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