BANGKOK: Thailand’s long haul low-cost carrier NokScoot Airlines will enter liquidation as the coronavirus pandemic worsened conditions for the struggling airline, its parent company Nok Airlines said on Friday.
NokScoot, a joint venture between Thailand’s Nok Air and Singapore Airlines-owned Scoot, wrestled to grow its network in a highly competitive sector for years and was yet to record a profit since formation in 2014.
The collapse in travel demand and grounding of flights all over the globe this year after the coronavirus outbreak has tipped several industry players over the edge, with the national carrier Thai Airways filing for bankruptcy protection in May.
To date, NokScoot has retrenched 425 employees with full benefits, Nok said.
The joint venture is set to hold a shareholders meeting on July 14 to go ahead with the dissolution and to appoint a liquidator, Nok added.
In a separate statement, Singapore Airlines said it would book a one-off charge of S$123.6 mil (RM379.63 mil) in the first-quarter ending June 30 from the carrier’s liquidation, mainly due to an impairment arising from the number of Boeing aircraft it leased to NokScoot. – June 26, 2020, Reuters
