Thailand's loss-making budget carrier files for rehabilitation

Nok Air CEO blames COVID-19 for company woes; Thai Airways gets creditor backing

Thai-listed budget carrier Nok Airlines, which has suffered six consecutive years of losses, says it can reemerge from the pandemic and court-supervised rehabilitation as "a viable entity." © Reuters

MASAYUKI YUDA, Nikkei staff writer

July 31, 2020 16:21 JST

Updated on July 31, 2020 21:43 JST

BANGKOK -- Loss-making Nok Airlines, a budget carrier listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, will undergo a court-supervised rehabilitation, becoming the second Thai airline to file such a request this year, following national flag carrier Thai Airways International.

The Central Bankruptcy Court has issued an order to accept the petition for consideration, according to a Nok Air statement filed at the SET on Friday. The carrier's board of directors decided to lodge the application at a meeting held on Thursday; it was submitted the same day.