As if it was expected ! Owing to the ban of International air travel for more than two years, another one falls but without affecting the other carriers under Air Asia Group.
Thai AirAsia X , the international low-cost carrier under the AirAsia umbrella , has filed for the bankruptcy protection , accepted by a Thai court , amid tough situation to raise funds, as the carrier is burdened with a large amount of debt.
Company released to the press,
Thai AirAsia X (XJ), the low fare long haul carrier, has begun preparations to initiate a rehabilitation process after its submission on 17 May,2022 was accepted by the Thai Central Bankruptcy Court on 18 May, 2022.
Thai Air Asia X is a budget international airline for the flights in and out of Thailand and not directly financially linked to the domestic Thai Air Asia, a member of the Group. This is the third airline in Thailand, along with Nok Air and Thai Airways, to file for bankruptcy since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last month Airbus had said , AirAsia X cancelled 63 of the A330-900 version of the A330neo and 10 narrow body A321neo aircraft.
The carrier wants to return back strong ! And the Bankruptcy filing is to restucture it's debts among other growth plans. It says,
The objective is to revamp the company’s administration process and restructure its debts, delivering greater efficiency and a solid platform for robust future growth after weathering the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, company also expects that the process will have no impact on passengers as operations will continue as usual and Thai AirAsia X prepares to reintroduce flights to South Korea and Japan from June 2022 onwards.
The filing for rehabilitation by Thai AirAsia X will furthermore have no impact or any effect on Thai AirAsia (FD) and Asia Aviation Plc. (AAV), which are separate entities with discrete operations and routes.
Mr. Patima Jeerapaet, Chief Executive of Thai AirAsia X , explained that the airline’s decision to enter into rehabilitation at this time was made to enhance the administration process in the best interests of its business progress, especially in terms of managing the company’s debt, which has been impacted over the past two years of pandemic.
He confidently expressed that all of the carrier’s stakeholders would fully support the move.
“Thai AirAsia X has entered into rehabilitation at an appropriate time with tourism recovering and the nation reopening. We assure that this process will have no impact on our services of passengers or flight plans during this process."
"Passengers who have already booked or are looking to book our flights will be able to fly to South Korea and Japan starting this June 2022. Thai AirAsia X also has further plans for expansion and will be adding flight frequencies and new routes in line with demand” Mr. Patima said.
Expecting the rehabilitation process to take around 8-12 months, company now waits for the Thai Central Bankruptcy Court to grants its order for Thai AirAsia X to enter into the rehabilitation process, after which the carrier will draft a rehabilitation plan and bolster its liquidity to ensure it operates at full capacity.
While promising to report the Progress on the company’s rehabilitation process periodically , company believes that the rehabilitation plan will not affect Thai AirAsia and Air Aviation Plc , which are separate entities.
