Bangkok Airways commences rehabilitation plan

Bangkok Airways stated it has commenced a rehabilitation plan, which includes "drastic" capacity, cost and job cuts, to make the carrier "stronger and leaner", according to President, Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth (Bangkok Post, 24-Sep-09). The carrier expects the strategies will cut costs by approximately USD3 million per month. Strategies include:

• Route Network: Suspension of services to Ho Chi Minh City, Xi'an, Hiroshima and Guilin from the end of Oct-2009. It has already suspended services to Shenzhen, Fukuoka, Macau and Krabi;
• Fleet: Cancellation of planned lease of an ATR-72 aircraft and deferred the delivery of an A319 from late 2009 to 2011;
• Staff: Offer of voluntary redundancies to its 2,000 staff. The offer includes an early retirement plan providing staff with one month's salary and extra pay for each year of employment, up to 36 months. The carrier has also cut executive pay.