The pandemic has altered the plans of the airline industry worldwide. One of the most affected regions is Southeast Asia, and especially the operators that were forcing their expansion with a growth plan that bordered on the reckless.
One of them was Thai AirAsia X, but the long-haul low-cost carrier left its boom days behind, and announced that it will file a reorganization plan, a process similar to U.S. Chapter 11, after the Thai Central Bankruptcy Court accepted its application on May 17, 2022.
The objective of the plan, according to the statement issued by the operator, «is to revamp the company’s management process and restructure its debts, providing greater efficiency and a solid platform for robust future growth after overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic.»
The process will have no impact on passengers, as operations will continue as usual and Thai AirAsia X is preparing to reintroduce flights to South Korea and Japan from June 2022.
Thai AirAsia X’s application for rehabilitation will also have no impact or effect on Thai AirAsia (FD) and Asia Aviation Plc (AAV), which are separate entities with different operations and routes.
Patima Jeerapaet, CEO of Thai AirAsia X, explained that the airline’s decision to enter rehabilitation at this time was made to improve the management process in the best interest of its business progress, especially in terms of managing the company’s debt, which has been affected in the past two years of pandemic. He expressed confidence that all the airline’s stakeholders would fully support the move.
«Thai AirAsia X has entered rehabilitation at an appropriate time, with the recovery of tourism and the reopening of the country. We assure that this process will not have any impact on our passenger services or flight plans during this process,» he said.
«Passengers who have already booked or are looking to book our flights will be able to fly to South Korea and Japan from June. Thai AirAsia X also has further expansion plans and will add flight frequencies and new routes based on demand,» he concluded.
AirAsia X was one of the driving forces behind the Airbus A330neo, and everything was in place for it to become the largest operator of the model. But it has yet to take delivery of a single aircraft and in April this year cancelled 63 of the 78 A330-900s it had ordered.
