Six members of THAI's board of directors will be nominated to execute the airline's debt rehabilitation plan and their names will be submitted to the Central Bankruptcy Court on Aug 17, according to THAI's acting president, Chansin Treenuchagron. The six members are ACM Chaiyapruk Didyasarin, chairman of the board; Chakkrit Parapuntakul, second vice chairman; Prapan Salirathavibhaga, an independent director; Boontuck Wungcharoen, an independent director; Piyasvasti Amranand, an independent director; and Mr Chansin himself, who drafted the rehab plan. Apart from the directors, the rehab team will also include EY Corporate Advisory Services Co. Chansin said the board members names' will be proposed to the court for consideration. If the court approves them, their appointment will be formally announced in the Royal Gazette. The next step in the rehab plan is the registration of creditors, which can either be done at the THAI head office or at the Legal Execution Department.<br/>
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HDC Hyundai Development on Sunday accepted to sit down with Asiana Airlines’ parent Kumho Industrial in what would be the last chance to sustain the buyout deal on the brink of collapse due to the bidder’s demand for a fresh due diligence to reevaluate the asset to reflect mounting losses from pandemic woes. HDC Hyundai Development said it was willing to keep the deal alive if “Kumho Industrial admits to the need for revisit to the buyout terms. It remained critical of the parent’s lacking commitment to the conditions to its terms. HDC Hyundai Development emphasized that it must reevaluate the buyout target as the corporate value has been sharply deteriorated since the deal was first signed in December last year. Whether the meeting would go through and end meaningfully remains uncertain as the bidder clings to its demand for reevaluation. <br/>
Lithuanian Airports has announced that LOT Polish Airlines will resume flights from Vilnius Airport in Lithuania to London City Airport in the UK from 31 August. The airline will operate flights from the airport 12 times a week using Embraer 190 aircraft. Flights between these two cities will be operated as part of the Public Service Obligation (PSO) formula, which permits public entities to jointly fund flights of special interest within the EU. The Government of Lithuania issued the tender in the summer of 2018, which was won by LOT. The flights commenced between Vilnius and London City for the first time on 1 May last year. Owing to the short runway and steep approach procedure at London City Airport, only some types of aircraft, including the Embraer 190, can be used at this airport. <br/>
If any African airline is having a reasonable pandemic, it is Ethiopian Airlines. Contrary to many of its regional and global counterparts, Ethiopian Airlines claims it has dealt with the crisis without reducing salaries or asking the government for a bailout. At a time when predicted global annual losses of $84.3bn have pushed industry giants such as American Airlines and Emirates to seek government support, this seems like nothing short of a miracle. In fact, it has more to do with leadership. An employee of the airline for more than 35 years, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam says that Ethiopian Airlines’ earlier decision to switch to transporting cargo helped it avert financial ruin by allowing the airline to maintain half of its income while 90% of its passenger fleet is grounded. “The decision to diversify as much as possible was the right decision because in times of crisis such as we are experiencing today, it has become a life-saving decision,” Tewolde told African Business. The ability to pivot into the cargo business is possible thanks to the airline’s prolonged investment in the sector, which led to the creation of Africa’s largest and most advanced cargo hub in Addis Ababa.<br/>