Thai Airways Faces Imminent Bankruptcy Protection Filing... First Among National Carriers

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Thai Airways, the national carrier of Thailand, is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy protection. Thai Airways will become the first state-owned airline to file for bankruptcy protection since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This is the first time a national carrier has filed for bankruptcy worldwide.

According to major foreign media and local reports on the 19th, the Thai government held a meeting of the State Enterprise Policy Office and is expected to approve Thai Airways' bankruptcy filing.

Bankruptcy protection is a system that temporarily suspends corporate debt repayment and seeks business normalization through asset sales and workforce reductions under court supervision.

Initially, the Thai government planned to provide large-scale bailout support to Thai Airways, but after years of increasing losses, it ultimately decided to proceed with the bankruptcy filing. Major foreign media quoted Thai government officials as saying, "We do not want to inject funds into places where there is no basis for recovering the money."

Thai Airways was once ranked among the world's top 10 excellent airlines by Skytrax, a UK-based airline rating agency. However, it has posted losses every year since 2013, and the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted air travel demand, significantly increasing its debt. Currently, Thai Airways' debt stands at 92 billion baht (approximately 3.5383 trillion KRW).

Following the news of Thai Airways' bankruptcy protection filing, its stock price plunged, falling 13% on the 18th and trading 15% lower than the previous day on the 19th, continuing its sharp decline.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.