TransAsia Airways (Taipei Songshan) is set to be liquidated after a board-meeting elected to dissolve the struggling carrier after sixty-five years in service. The motion will be put to a shareholders vote for confirmation.
The Taiwanese scheduled operator said in a statement that it had failed to recover financially from the crashes of flights GE222 and GE235 in 2014/15. As such, despite its best efforts to reform and restructure its operations, its financial woes have continued to deepen culminating in a loss of TWD2.2 billion (USD68.9 million) for the first three quarters of 2016.
“It was a painful decision to dissolve the company," Chairman Vincent Lin said. "We kept trying to find domestic and international professional bodies, partners, or even a new operational team to help TransAsia. It’s a pity that the hope was not fulfilled.”
Lin added that the decision to wind up the carrier at this point in time was taken after a review of its finances showed its assets still outstripped its liabilities. Therefore, there would be adequate protection for creditors including employees and lessors.
“We choose to dissolve the airline at this point of time because the company still has more assets than liability, so we’re capable of providing necessary protection to the interests of passengers, employees and partners,” said Lin. “Before exiting Taiwan’s civil aviation industry, the 65-year-old airline will do everything we could to shoulder our last responsibilities.”
An emergency task force has since been established to deal with issues related to passenger refunds, employee layoffs, communication with the government, debt clearance, and shareholder interests.
Operations were suspended on Tuesday, November 22, and will remain as such going forward.
