The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has suspended the operations of Asian Air, a small Thai-owned, full-service airline, slightly over a week after it banned a company plane from leaving Thailand.
The airline, founded in 2011 with a current paid-up capital of 500 million baht, said the order took effect on Sunday as the company is seeking all possibilities "to resume its operations as soon as possible".
On Jan 27, the CAAT banned an Asian Air aircraft from leaving the navy-owned U-Tapao airport in Rayong province to pick up passengers in Macau before flying on to Palau, an island country in the western Pacific Ocean, after it received an order from the Central Bankruptcy Court to freeze the debt-laden airline's assets.
CAAT acting director Chula Sukmanop said last month the agency found the airline had unpaid debts and was being sued by its maintenance service provider, Cargo Aircraft Management Inc, for bankruptcy.
Asian Air co-owner David Srichai-udom told the Bangkok Post Monday the airline's debt was now down to 10 million baht after it had paid off 90 million baht. He expected the legal battle to end in four to six months before the CAAT would allow the airline to resume operations.
Normally, the aviation authority has no immediate access to information about an airline's debts, Mr Chula has said. The airline may face having its operating licence revoked if it is found not to be in a financial position to run a business.
The airline reported net losses of 8.3 million baht in 2013 and 150.4 million baht in 2014, according to financial statements filed with the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Business Development.
Last April, a total of 233 Thai tourists were left stranded at Don Mueang airport as their Asian Air chartered flight to Sapporo was not approved by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau to fly to Japan.