Court approves THAI’s exit from four-year rehabilitation program

The Central Bankruptcy Court granted permission for Thai Airways International Public Company (THAI) to exit rehabilitation program today, paving the way for the airline to trade its shares on the stock market again, tentatively in August.

THAI sought court-supervised rehabilitation in May 2020, after it had incurred crushing accumulated debt, amounting to 400 billion baht.

By the first quarter of this year, the company had repaid about 94 billion baht to its creditors, with the balance expected to be fully paid by 2036.

THAI filed a petition with the court to leave the rehabilitation plan on April 28th, after it had succeeded in meeting the four conditions required by the plan.

These include:

• A registered capital increase and debt to equity conversion

• Disciplined repayments without default

• Earnings, before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), after aircraft lease payments reached 40 billion baht, which was double the benchmark set as a key condition to exit rehabilitation

• Formation of a new board, following a shareholder meeting on April 18th.

Piyasvasti Amranand, chairman of the Rehabilitation Plan Administration and a THAI director, said that, over the last four years, THAI has successfully implemented all the measures required by the plan.

He said that THAI has managed to make an operating profit since 2023 and its margin, during the last two quarters, was in the top three of all airlines, according to Airline Weekly.

THAI CEO Chai Eamsiri hailed the exit from rehabilitation as an important step for the company, which reflects the determination, perseverance and sacrifice of all parties concerned, including the creditors, shareholders, customers and staff of the company.