Politics
Thai Airways to lay off 30% of its staff

“THAI will stop repaying all debt and start from scratch.”
The government announced today that Thai Airways will have to dismiss more than 6,000 employees after entering into receivership proceedings and a debt moratorium of 200 billion baht. The Cabinet decided to push Thai Airways into a bankruptcy procedure under the Bankruptcy Act and ordered the Ministry of Finance to relinquish their majority stake in the airline, thus stripping it of its state-enterprise status and enabling the proceeding under civil law.
A spokesman said the troubled national flag carrier, which racked up billions of baht in losses for years, will “stop repaying all debt and start from scratch”. 30% of its more than 20,000 employees, or some 6,000 people, are to be dismissed. They will receive 10 months salary as compensation as per the Thai labour laws.
Sources say the ‘rehabilitation’ of the airline could take at least one year. The bankruptcy must be declared in the US as well as in Thailand to avoid planes being seized or other asset forfeiture.
Yesterday it was reported that Airbus were chasing repayments for some of the leased planes. But today Airbus denied local reports that it had notified the airline of debts the struggling carrier owes for 30 rented aircraft, according to Nation Thailand.
The 53 Airbus aircraft used by Thai Airways includes six Airbus A380-800,12 A350-900s, 15 A330-300s and 20 A320-200s.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Thailand
Thailand’s tourism targets film production to gain revenue during Covid-19 crisis

Thailand’s tourism officials have a new idea to draw in visitors: film production. The Tourism and Sports Ministry is aiming to generate around 3 billion baht from foreign film crews and is targeting projects with an investment over 100 million baht, hoping to compensate for the loss of revenue due to the lack of international tourists during the coronavirus pandemic.
Foreign tourism revenue drastically dropped nearly 83% in 2020, going from nearly 40 million tourists in 2019 to only 6.7 million tourists in 2020.
The tourism department’s director-general Anant Wongbenjarat says that Thailand welcomed 176 international film productions to the country last year, generating 1.73 billion baht for the local economy. But this is a sharp decrease compared to the previous year where the 740 foreign film crews generated 4.86 billion baht.
In August, the CCSA decided to grant special entry permission to film productions. 53 film production projects were based in Thailand during August and December, contributing 1.14 billion baht to the economy. Those entering Thailand must still undergo a 14 day quarantine.
“International productions can proceed and generate income for locals despite the tourism slowdown.”
Anant also says there are 4 more film production projects underway, and it is forecasted to generate 186 million baht, bringing the total to 57 projects. In the first half of this year, there will be nine more productions expected to come in and help create at least 800 jobs for locals.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Thailand
Massage workers in Pattaya call for reopening of spas and massages shops

A group of about 50 workers from Pattaya massage shops and spas gathered together to call for the reopening of their businesses after being closed for the past month due to Covid-19 restrictions. The group called themselves the “Pattaya Health Massage” presented a letter signed by 60 massage shops, spas and gyms to Bang Lamung District Sheriff this morning.
Chon Buri is listed as a “high risk” area with maximum restrictions. Many nonessential businesses in the province have been closed including massage shops, spas and gyms.
Now that Chon Buri has gone 5 consecutive days without a local Covid-19 infection, the workers say it’s time for businesses, like massage shops and spas, to reopen.
The workers also raised the point that other provinces and districts across Thailand are loosening restrictions as the number of active cases continues to drop. The workers also said that there are no Covid-19 clusters or major outbreaks related to massage shops or fitness venues.
Bang Lamung District Sheriff Amnat Charoensri met the protesters and collected the petition and says he understands that many people need to get back to work to earn income. Local officials are expected to hold a meeting within the next week to potentially loosen restrictions.
SOURCE: Pattaya News
Catch up with the latest daily “Thailand News Today” here on The Thaiger.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Business
The ‘office’ is SO last century. Say hello to the world of remote working.

Do you work from home? Or can you work anywhere have a laptop and wi-fi? Are you a trader or selling stuff online? You’re part of a growing trend in modern work practices as the fancy city office becomes an expensive relic of the ‘old normal’.
2020 became the year of people working from home. In same case, it was the year of being told to stay home so there wasn’t much option. During Thailand’s lockdowns in April and May, offices were closed and employers had to scramble to find alternatives to the “office”. With the rise of Zoom and other video conferencing software, ways of tracking time-on-keyboard and hundreds of other monitoring apps, employers suddenly discovered they could actually run their businesses without an office. There were certainly new dynamics and unforeseen challenges, but for the most part, it worked.
Companies had worked from central office locations for a hundred years. The remote/work-from-home option was a new test for everyone involved but many early wrinkles have been ironed out after an accelerated learning curve due to the Covid-19 situation.
In the early days, most companies weren’t ready to close up the office and send their workers home claiming that some basic operations such as accounting and invoicing were not yet able to be done online (Thailand has a love of hard-copies and paperwork).
Team meetings were also more clumsy online. There were even companies that told their staff to keep coming in to the office as there was no legal barrier preventing them from doing so. But many smaller and less digitally-savvy firms required workers to come in and risk contracting the virus.
In the US, the Bureau of Labour Statistics found only 29% of jobs in the US could be completed from home, while in Thailand (a far less digitised and service-based economy) the percentage was probably lower.
But larger Thai firms, such as Unilever and True Digital allowed nearly 100% of their white-collar employees to work from home early during the lockdown phase. Other companies adapted quickly and found that working remotely, or from home, allowed their businesses additional flexibility. Many workers also say they enjoyed the lack of office interruptions too.
While Unilever was unable to send its factory workforce home, it was able to shift all sales and executive personnel fully online to avoid possible Covid exposure finding hitherto unknown improvements in the firm’s e-commerce presence.
Thai startups such as Eko (“your complete employee experience platform”) was able to capitalise on the rise of work-from-home with its “work anywhere” employee application. Eko experienced 200% year-on-year sales growth in the first half of 2020 as companies looked for solutions to connect employees from home.
Teleconferencing juggernaut Zoom was trading shares at US$88 at the start of 2020, to rise to $568 by mid-October, only to trail off to $337 by the end of the year – the fickle nature of a fast-rising tech start-up.
Employees, generally, prefer the shift to working from home and the flexible hours. It doesn’t suit all businesses or all employees, but it suits many. A study by by recruitment specialists Robert Walters Thailand found 75% of workers want opportunities to work-from-home and only 25% want a return to full-time work at the office.
Last month the police and the Bangkok Metropolitan Organisation police urged businesses to allow employees to work from home at least once a week to cut down on traffic-induced pollution.
The Covid-19 pandemic also forced countries to rethink their supply chains and reliance on foreign goods. China, for example, responded to the outbreak by shutting down factories, some of which other countries relied on for medical equipment needed to fight the virus, and vital components needed for manufacturing of goods in China and other countries.
Whilst there was an initial push-back on China, the international supply chain has become so entwined with Chinese businesses and manufacturers, and China with other countries, that it would take decades to unwind.
One of the biggest winners this year has been the rise of the delivery services. Grab Bike, Food Panda, We Serve and Line Bike are the best known but there are start ups making inroads into the growing delivery space as well as many smaller and larger businesses that have their own deliveries.
These businesses have been able to thrive on the ‘new normal’ stay-at-home culture. Eat at home, work at home, shop from home, watch movies at home – the trend is growing as people realise that they can get almost everything delivered, timely, efficiently and at little additional cost, usually free.
The big test will be once the Covid situation settles down, whatever that means and whenever it happens, and companies look back at the successes and failures of their employees working from home. But there’s no doubt the pandemic and the imposed restrictions ave accelerated the need to develop new ways of allowing employees to work safely, remotely or from home.
The successful transition of some office work to work-at-home will also put continued pressure on the commercial real estate market. Many employers are looking at their monthly office rental outgoings and starting to measure the return on their investment.
The rise of the work-at-home phenomenon and the digital nomad will be the main trends for office work in 2021.
This article was written laying on a couch, at home, at 6.15am in the morning… because we can.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
- Business12 hours ago
The ‘office’ is SO last century. Say hello to the world of remote working.
- North East3 days ago
Ring road collapses leaving at least 10 injured in Nakhon Ratchasima
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)3 days ago
198 new infections, 1 death – Thailand’s Covid-19 update
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)3 days ago
Phuket wants Bangkok arrivals to skip quarantine to help tourism revenue
- Crime3 days ago
Phuket national park officer fired over peeping Tom incident
- Bangkok4 days ago
Efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines will drop during mass inoculations: Thai virologist
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago
ASQ + Vaccine in Thailand proposal gets the thumbs down
- Bangkok4 days ago
Courteous thief apologises to Bangkok convenience store: Sorry I’ve a kid
Michael Lewis
Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 7:42 pm
A company that gas more Chiefs than Indians was bound to hit the deck sooner or later. Lets hope the 6000 redundances are the pencil roller chiefs who wrecked the company.
MJ
Friday, May 22, 2020 at 11:27 am
The only way to get back to Business is to sweep the stairs from up to down.
The Top positions must be Business men. It will not work with a Pilot or Government people in the Top Management.
Wish them Good Luck
Mr D G Apswoude-Director, Australian Investment & Development proprietary l.
Friday, May 22, 2020 at 5:50 pm
Thai airways was, and still is, a Thai Government-non private-run airline that operated under strict Thai Govt direction achieved maximum financial benefit to the Thai travel and tourism industries for past twenty years in generating income of 20% of a 30 Trillion Thai Baht GDP per year. That’s correct-around 100 trillion baht was underwritten by an airline who’s sole aim was to benefit Thai travel and tourism, with a secondary Business plan to try to make a profit or limit losses. Now it’s employees, management, and creditors are told that Thai Government will not honour anything and will seek to act as a corporate entity going forward. This may very-well bring all of Thailand and it’s business community into disrepute. The “Road to perdition” is about to be travelled Thai-duly elected Government, the consequences may permanently damage Thailand and it’s perception by the world at large. Staff losing life savings does not=LOS .
Peter mccann
Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 10:12 am
Have I lost my credit for flights