Thailand’s national career Thai Airways International filed for rehabilitation in May, the creditors jumped in, and possibly it’s going to be a long ride. The lawyers who know the rehabilitation process told that it could take a long time; it’s a complicated matter as the airline’s 39 aircraft are on lease from several lessors.
The low-cost airline, Nok Air has also filed a petition for rehabilitation in the Central Bankruptcy Court. According to the experts, it’s rehabilitation process can take less time than the national career as it only has 21 aircraft on lease. It would be easier to negotiate with the lessors.
Although the airline didn’t inform him, he could read the signals. The airline was struggling before the coronavirus crisis and was looking to restructure and the crisis just made things worse. He says while talking on the phone with them he could understand this was about to happen as they were not responsive and not committed.
But, he is not mad at the airline for not telling him as he thinks, it’s part of the negotiation process between lessors and airlines. He thinks they might not have even told the lessor with which they have a good relationship as they don’t want the assets to be seized.
Another lessor is quite at the matter and says the airline is following the national career so we should wait and see. The smaller lessors are expected to be affected more when they won’t receive the lease payments, where other lessors that have hundreds of aircraft won’t have serious financial trouble.
They have more than 96 aircraft, so if they don’t get paid for 4 or 5, it’s not that much trouble, but if a lessor has only 20, then it will have to face some financial trouble. Some lessors have little experience of dealing with the restructuring process.