First Embraer 190-100LR has joined the fleet of Myanmar Airways International (MAI). Call sign ZZ529 joined the MAI fleet as part of a strategy of fleet enhancement. On 26 October, CDB Aviation, a wholly-owned Irish company of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., delivered Myanmar Airways International with the first of three Embraer E190 aircraft. The aircraft was ferried to Yangon International Airport from Guangzhou, China. View More.

CEBU AIR, Inc. (CEB), the listed operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, announced on Tuesday that it is investing $5.61 million to buy the 51% stake of SIA Engineering Co. Ltd. (SIAEC), the aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) unit of Singapore Airlines, in their joint venture company Aviation Partnership (Philippines) Corp. (APPC).
APPC is currently 51% owned by SIAEC and 49% by CEB, the listed airline operator said in a disclosure to the stock exchange. CEB is acquiring 905,641 shares in APPC at $6.19 each. View More.

Spirit AeroSystems announces the signing of a multi-year partnership with Taiwan EGAT (Evergeen Aviation Technologies Corporation), the MRO arm of the parent company of Eva Air. Spirit will thus provide maintenance services on its products, in particular on the GE90 and Trent 800 nacelles, on the CFM56-7B thrust reverser, and on flight control surfaces. MORE

GKN Aerospace's new engine parts repair center in Johor, Malaysia, has just reached an important milestone with the delivery of the first parts of a low pressure compressor for a CFM56. The repaired components were returned to an Asian MRO service provider. The Johor site employs around 70 people today and is positioned as GKN's repair center for customers based in the Asia Pacific region. MORE

BANGKOK, Sept 14 (Bloomberg): Thai Airways International Pcl, the nation’s flagship carrier, got court approval for its business restructuring on Monday.

The Central Bankruptcy Court decided that the airline can proceed with its business reorganization plan, a crucial step forward for the embattled company, which has around 350 billion baht ($11 billion) of debt, according to Chansin Treenuchagron, its acting president.

The flagship carrier is facing one of its biggest challenges in its 60-year history as the pandemic hits the country’s tourism-dependent economy. The company’s shares jumped as much as 10.7%, the most since Aug. 5. Shares of Nok Airlines Pcl, a budget carrier which Thai Airways holds a stake in, also rose.

The Covid-19 crisis has devastated the global travel industry, forcing airlines to suspend flights, lay off employees and seek financial help from governments and investors. Companies such as Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. and Avianca Holdings SA, Latin America’s second-largest airline, have gone into administration or sought bankruptcy protection.

If the airline fails to rehabilitate, it will damage the company, employees, debtors, investors and the whole economy, the court said in a statement after ruling on the carrier’s petition.

Industry strains have been mounting in Asia, with Singapore Airlines Ltd. eliminating about 20% of its workforce.

The court also approved Thai Airways’ request to appoint EY Corporate Advisory Services Ltd. and the carrier’s board members as debt revamp planners. The airline plans to submit a debt plan to the court in the fourth quarter and aims to complete the restructuring process in five years, according to Chansin.

"The court’s debt rehabilitation approval is just a tiny step,” Chanchai Chaiprasit, chief executive officer of PricewaterhouseCooper’s Thai unit, said before the ruling.

"It’s an uphill task to come up with a debt plan that would satisfy banks, aircraft lessors, suppliers and other lenders.”

Thai Airways was dealt a blow recently, when the nation’s Ministry of Transport identified potential corruption in underpricing of tickets and excessive overtime costs. Thailand’s Ministry of Finance owns around 48% of Thai Airways, according to an August filing.

The airline had defaulted on loans and bonds totaling 85 billion baht, or 33.1% of its total assets, according to its latest statement on July 22.

It reported a net loss of 28 billion baht in the first half of this year, a more-than-fourfold jump from 6.44 billion baht during the same time a year ago as the carrier cancelled scheduled flights from April to comply with government rules to contain the pandemic. - Bloomberg

A so-called "Survival Team" has been formed to work out a business plan for Thai Airways International (THAI) to support the debt rehabilitation of the carrier, according to a source at the airline. Acting THAI president Chansin Treenuchagron has ordered the team to get up and running.

The Survival Team is in charge of producing a business plan, effective from July 9 to Oct 31.

It represents an integral part of the rehabilitation blueprint which the airline will submit to the Central Bankruptcy Court on Aug 17, one day before the court is scheduled to decide whether to admit the airline's rehab case, according to the source. The source said the team will be headed by Chai Eamsiri, vice-president for Petroleum, Corporate Insurance and Aviation Environment.

It will comprise 21 members who are executives of various departments of the airline. The team will be advised by executive vice-presidents for commerce, corporate strategy and sustainable development, operations, and the technical department.

On Wednesday, Mr Chansin also signed an order appointing Nond Kalinta, vice-president for Alliances and Commercial Strategy Department, to concurrently hold the post of acting executive vice-president for corporate strategy and sustainable development. The appointment came into effect immediately.

Also on Thursday, acting executive vice-president for commerce Wiwat Piyawiroj admitted tickets on THAI flights have been offered for sale for next month although no date has been set as to when the airline will resume its scheduled flights and what cities it will fly to. Mr Wiwat said it was normal practice for commercial airlines to prepare marketing plans ahead of time while keeping in mind the economic outlook in a given year.

Source: Bangkok Post

The development of U-Tapao Airport and Eastern Aviation City is set to take off after U-Tapao International Aviation Co Ltd (BBS Group) signed a joint investment agreement with Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand (EECO) on June 19, with the goal of making U-Tapao an aviation hub.

EECO has revealed that the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak has had only a slight impact on the aviation city project.

Experts in the aviation industry who are advising the office said that regardless of what people say travel is an inevitability.Many parties estimate that within two years from now, air travel will return to normal.

At the same time, transportation is becoming more important and air transportation will return soon, so the aviation city is still important.The development of the U-Tapao Airport will take four years.

When the construction is completed, it will be a time when air travel would be expanding, an important opportunity for the aviation city.

The crisis of Covid-19 will make the aviation business model change from using very large aircraft to the use of medium-sized jets with more flying frequency.

So, the airport's detailed design may be adjusted based on the frequency, the size of the plane and changing customer behaviour.

Meanwhile, there have been no bids for the proposed maintenance, repair and overall centre in the first round yet, but Thai Airways International plc has to build this aircraft repair centre since it has demolished the old Map Ta Phut to enlarge the runway area of the airport.

However, in the EEC, there will be other aircraft repair centres that will be open for bidding.

There are still many private companies interested. From the analysis, it is seen that air travel must return to normal and Thailand will be an important aviation link in the region.

The growth of the aviation industry in the Asia-Pacific region will make maintenance in the region more valuable than returning to Europe or the United States.

However, the plan may be somewhat delayed due to the virus.

In terms of attracting investment in high-tech industries, although Thailand has many strengths such as infrastructure, communications infrastructure in technology, 5G network that will be used in 50 per cent of the EEC in 2021 and accelerating the development of highly skilled personnel, there is a weakness in international trade and investment agreements that are less than competitive, especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement of Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Thai-European Free Trade Area.

The EECO officer said that Investors asked a lot about the time frame of action, especially on the EU FTA because it is a very important market and Vietnam has already signed these agreements.

According to discussions between EECO and investors coming into the target industry, they want to know about highly skilled workers to support advanced technology.

Thailand has started to develop skilled labour to support future investments.

The free trade area is a secondary issue that investors asked about.

The 4-5 industries that came to consult with EECO are mostly in the biological industry and the new advanced material technology industry, such as the use of sugarcane to produce fibres for durable use in the high-tech industry, which involves high technology.

In addition, EECO has worked with Japanese high-tech companies who are going to move out of China while the Board of Investment has constantly revised the package to pull more investment. - The Nation Thailand/ Asian News Network

The state agency overseeing eastern seaboard development, on Friday signed a 290-billion-baht deal to build the Eastern Airport City Project at U-Tapao.Those behind the project say the deal will catapult Thailand into a regional aviation hub.

The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office's Eastern Special Development Zone Policy Committee yesterday signed the deal with winning concessionaire, U-Tapao International Aviation Co, an offshoot of the BBS Joint Venture that won the bid to develop the "aeropolis" in Ban Chang district of Rayong Province.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who presided over the contract signing at Government House, said the 290-billion-baht scheme was a shining example of a public-private partnership investment. "This is considered an important step for the country to become a regional aviation hub. The government will speed up such investment projects to meet its goals," he said.

The project is is expected to create 78,000 jobs in the aviation industry sector and related businesses in the first five years.

EEC Office secretary-general, Kanit Sangsubhan, said the aviation city scheme is part of the largest investment projects in the Asia-Pacific region. U-Tapao would become Bangkok's third international airport under a scheme that would link it with Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports and boost their handling capacity to up to 200 million passengers annually.

The U-Tapao International Airport City Project; Eastern Airport City Project also incorporates a high-speed train route linking the three major airports. That contract was signed last October between the Charoen Pokphand Group-led consortium and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

For the aeropolis development, the BBS Joint Venture comprises Bangkok Airways, which owns 45% of the shares, BTS Group Holdings which owns 35%, and Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction (STEC) which owns 20%.

U-Tapao International Aviation Co has starting capital of 4.5 billion baht that will increase to 9 billion baht in 2024.

Bangkok Airways (BA) president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said the project requires a 130-billion-baht investment throughout its four phases starting from now until 2055.

The four phases involves the building of a 157,000-square-metre-passenger terminal that when fully completed in 2055 will make the airport able to handle 60 million passengers per year, according to Chokechai Panyayong, the project's special adviser. The first phase, expected to be completed in 2024, is the building of a passenger terminal to handle 15.9 million passengers annually. This phase also includes the development of a commercial area, parking facilities, a ground transport centre and 60 aircraft parking bays. Phase 2, 3 and 4 are all about expanding the passenger terminal. Phase 2 will be completed in 2030 and increase passenger capacity to 30 million per annum, 45 million for Phase 3 by 2040 and 60 million passengers per year by 2055.

He said construction of a second runway, which is the responsibility of the Royal Thai Navy, is at the design and environment and health impact assessment stage and is expected to be completed by 2024.

Source: Bangkok Post

The move to allow wholly foreign-owned companies to manufacture aircraft and aircraft parts in Thailand will boost foreign investment in the country, said Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general to the prime minister for political affairs.
The Cabinet recently approved a draft amendment drawn up by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) that will scrap the requirement for aviation-related manufacturers to be at least 51-per-cent Thai-owned. MORE