Nok Air and its top management executives have adopted a shareholding structure to hold the majority stake in the joint venture with Singapore’s Scoot to establish a long-haul low-fare carrier based in Thailand.
The endorsed structure sees the creation of a Nok Air subsidiary, tentatively known as Nok SPV, and a private firm owned equally by four senior Nok Air executives, to take up the 49% and 2% stakes, respectively in NokScoot, the new joint venture airline.
Scoot Pte, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, is to hold a 49% stake in NokScoot.
The shareholding structure of Nok SPV and the private firm, tentatively known as Company A, is scheduled to be submitted to the Nok Air shareholders meeting on April 9, according to executives.
The shareholders’ approval will set into motion the formal process required for starting up NokScoot, which is expected to take to the skies later this year.
It was agreed that NokScoot will have an initial registered capital of 2 billion baht.
There was an agreement for Nok Air to extend a 970-million-baht loan to Nok SPV for the required equity and will be charged an interest rate based on a 12-month deposit rate imposed by Kasikorn and Siam Commercial Bank plus a 0.5% risk premium.
It was decided that NokScoot will operate flights out of Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport and use most common facilities already established there by Nok Air.
It will initially operate two or three Boeing 777-200 wide-body aircraft sourced from Scoot’s fleet, although the planes will be repainted with Nok Air’s distinctive colourful bird-like motif but carry the NokScoot name.
The LCC will initially operate flights to Japan, South Korea and northern China, routes that offer strong traffic potential at both ends.
NokScoot will be the second Thailand-based long-haul low-fare due to start up this year, after Thai Asia X (TAAX) whose establishment, also from Don Mueang airport, is in a more advanced stage.
But the launch of TAAX, planned for this month, has been postponed due to political unrest, which has cast a pall over traffic demand.