Taiwan’s Far Eastern Air Transport abruptly suspends all operations
This year has seen an unusually high number of airline failures and it looks like yet another has bitten the dust.
Taiwan’s Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. FAT) has announced an abrupt end to all flight operations.
It cited growing financial difficulties due to a lack of cash reserves.
According to local media, more than 3,000 passengers with bookings are impacted.
At a joint press conference with the Civil Aeronautics Administration FAT deputy general manager Huang Yu-chi said it is only a temporary closure.
The airline is only ‘suspending’ its operations due to a shortage of cash and hopes to restart flights soon.
The Taiwan CAA said FAT has been defaulting on loan repayments and the regulator had been monitoring the airline’s financial health for some time.
Due to the abrupt nature of the collapse, airline chairman Chang Kang-wei will be barred from leaving Taiwan.
The CAA had been trying to contact Chang for the past few days.
According to the Civil Aviation Act, Chang could be fined and jailed for failing to give 60 days’ notice of an air service suspension.
It could also face more action over not giving the same required notice period for mass redundancies.
Founded more than 60 years ago, the airline declared bankruptcy a decade ago and actually closed down for three years before resuming operations.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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