Thai Airways president Sumeth Damrongchaitham and Suvarnabhumi International Airport director Sutheerawat Suwannawat submitted their resignations on 12 March 2020, hours apart, as COVID-19 travel curbs erased flights and revenue. The moves leave Thailand’s national carrier and its main gateway leaderless at the peak of an unfolding global aviation slump.
Frustration over state aid sinks Sumeth
Sumeth’s letter to the board cited “insurmountable obstacles” in securing emergency support from the Ministry of Transport, according to a company filing released after markets closed. People close to the executive said he had spent three weeks asking for short-term credit lines, landing-fee holidays and a delay in aircraft-lease payments only to have each proposal returned without comment.
“The airline burns through roughly two billion baht a week when 70 percent of the network is grounded,” a senior Thai Airways pilot told InfoPulseToday on condition of anonymity. “Sumeth finally told the board he could not keep begging for help that never arrives.”
The flag carrier had already posted a net loss of 12 billion baht for 2019 and entered 2020 with liquidity covering barely 90 days of operations. By early March, Beijing had barred foreign carriers, Japan had quarantined Thai arrivals and the European Union was preparing travel restrictions that would remove the airline’s most profitable long-haul routes.
Sumeth, a marketing veteran who took the helm in 2018, had negotiated wage deferrals with labour unions and parked 38 of the fleet’s 103 aircraft in desert storage to save on maintenance. Those measures, aides said, were overtaken by a cascade of government edicts that closed entire countries faster than the airline could rebook passengers.
Airport chief exits after passengers slip quarantine
Sutheerawat’s departure followed a 7 March incident in which 80 Thai labourers, deported from South Korea, bypassed health screening at Suvarnabhumi and left the airport in taxis. Health officials later located 75 of them; four tested positive for the virus.
Airports of Thailand (AoT) president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn told reporters on 12 March that Sutheerawat had resigned “to take personal responsibility for the breach”. The exit came two days after a leaked memo showed the airport requesting 200 soldiers and health volunteers to man exit gates; the defence ministry reportedly offered 30.
A security officer who worked the overnight shift said screening teams were told to process 1,400 passengers on a single arriving Korean flight with only three thermal scanners operational. “The passengers walked past an unmanned checkpoint while police argued over whose job it was to stop them,” the officer said, declining to be named because he is not authorised to speak to media.
Sutheerawat, an AoT veteran who oversaw a 30 billion baht terminal expansion, had clashed publicly with the army-led Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration over whether military or civilian staff controlled access doors. Sources inside the transport ministry said the director sent three urgent letters asking for reinforcements the week before the lapse; none drew a formal reply.
Government silence deepens industry anxiety
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s administration has not commented on either resignation. The transport minister, Saksayam Chidchob, cancelled a scheduled briefing on 13 March and referred questions to the ministry’s permanent secretary, who declined interviews.
The vacuum at the top adds uncertainty to an industry already facing mass lay-offs. Thai Airways employs 22,000 people directly and supports an estimated 180,000 tourism-related jobs through its domestic network. Suvarnabhumi, South-East Asia’s third-busiest hub, handled 65 million passengers last year; footfall dropped 45 percent in the first week of March, according to AoT data.
Korsak Chairasmisak, an aviation analyst at Kasikorn Research Center, predicts the airport’s revenue will fall by half in the second quarter if border controls remain. “Losing both the airline chief and the airport director in one day signals to creditors and insurers that governance is unravelling,” Korsak said. “That raises the risk premium for every Thai carrier trying to refinance aircraft.”
The stock market delivered an immediate verdict: Thai Airways shares fell 15 percent on 13 March to an all-time low of 6.15 baht, while AoT stock slid 11 percent. Bondholders rushed to offload Thai Airways’ 2023 notes, pushing the yield above 11 percent.
Staff brace for deeper cuts
Inside Thai Airways’ head office near Chatuchak Park, employees were told on 13 March that unpaid leave letters would go out the following week. A flight attendant with 18 years’ service said morale was “the worst since the 1997 crash”. Cabin crew have already agreed to a 25 percent pay cut through September; ground staff expect similar concessions.
At the airport, contract cleaners and baggage handlers protested outside Terminal 1 on 14 March after learning that 3,000 outsourced jobs could be eliminated by May. “We were told the virus is force majeure, so there will be no severance,” said 42-year-old Somsak Rerkwichian, who loads cargo for Korean Air. “But we still have to pay rent.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has promised a 2 billion baht relief package to waive navigation and safety fees for six months, yet airlines say the amount is a fraction of fixed costs such as aircraft leases denominated in US dollars. Industry association BAR-THAI estimates Thai carriers will post combined losses of 130 billion baht in 2020 if travel bans persist beyond June.
The twin resignations have also revived long-standing calls to privatise Thai Airways, which is 48 percent state-owned. “The airline has been used as a political tool for decades,” said former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij. “A bankruptcy court and new management free of ministerial interference may now be the only way to save it.”
Parliament is set to debate an emergency loan package when it reconvenes in early April. Until then, check-in counters stay shuttered, runways fall quiet, and aviation workers wait for leadership that shows no sign of arriving.
