Far Eastern Air Transport (Taipei Sung Shan) Chairman Fenno Chang says his carrier is close to finalizing arrangements with several financial institutions which could lead to it assuming full control of bankrupt rival, TransAsia Airways (Taipei Sung Shan).
In an interview with The China Post, Chang said: "We are now speaking with some banks and are 80 per cent certain we will be able to take over TransAsia."
The CEO said TransAsia's fleet of seven ATRs and four to six A320/A321s would help bolster that of FEAT which currently consists of five MD-82s and three MD-83s. The added capacity would then feed traffic into another of Chang's investments - Huafu Group which has interests in the travel, hospitality, transport, and lifestyle sectors.
Should the purchase go ahead, TransAsia Airways would be renamed Far Eastern United Air. A restructuring of the carrier would commence within three months of the signing of an agreement with the aim of returning TransAsia to profitability within six months.
TransAsia Airways suspended all operations on November 22 citing protracted financial difficulties caused, for the most part, by the crashes of flights GE222 and GE235 in 2014/15.
With TransAsia now set to be liquidated, China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) has been provisionally awarded the bulk of the defunct carrier's route authorities. A formal, more permanent allocation process will be undertaken in February/March 2017.
