“Churangkul” Is Shaping Up NOK for Its Final Exit!

NOK Airlines Public Company Limited (NOK) has just appointed Mr. Pravej Ongartsittigul as its new acting chief executive officer. Will his arrival be able to remedy the weakened NOK, or just a temporary cure to lessen the long-term loss?

The arrival of Mr. Pravej has been belittled by many people regarding his profile from the Secretariat of the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) to sit in NOK’s acting chief executive position without any experience of aviation administration. The disbelief in him as NOK’s saviour is growing.

However, Mr. Pravej, who has been chosen by Mr. Prasert Bunsumpun, former CEO of PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) and current Chairman of the Board of NOK, must be relying on the former J.P. Morgan Chase (Thailand) CEO for some strategic money to support big projects in the future for sure.

Before we get to that matter, let’s see this new acting chief executive officer’s plan to turnaround NOK.

 

The beginning phase is to stop further loss from every channel as well as employment of chief executive for administration department, sales department, marketing department, financial department etc. Flight punctuality will also be fixed in this phase.

The second phase is to strengthen the airline business with steady income to prepare for future marketing plans, while the third phase will be all about approaching strategy.

However, the problem with NOK is not all about stopping its losses, but the procedures after the losses have been stopped.

 

When we look at the second and third phase, the plans does not seem to be possible. So, it can be implied that the arrival of Mr. Pravej as just a special occasion to await the new CEO from the new shareholders!!

The idea has been supported by the movements of Churangkul group, and the idleness of THAI airways, heating the dramatic situation in NOK’s business. The situation should have been evitable when Mrs. Hatairat Churangkul is willing to loan 500 million baht to purchasing newly issued shares in Nokscoot Airlines Company Limited in order to be able to compete with international airlines.

Or the case that Mr. Nattapol Churangkul, Mrs. Hatairat’s son, does not seem to be satisfied with the operation of Mr. Piya Yodmani, which eventually may be the reason leading to his resignation.

To make it even clearer, Mrs. Hatairat also purchase another 0.05% of NOK’s shares to increase her total to 10.04%. Overall, Churangkul Group holds more than 52% stake, while THAI still holds 21.80% as before.

All the above cases support the idea of shaping up NOK for its final exit. In fact, Churangkul Group does not need to invest their money in NOK that would not return anything to them. Some may say that holding NOK will benefit the logistic sector in Summit Group of Churangkul’s business, but it is too late to find any beneficial advantage from NOK.

 

More importantly, THAI that currently holds 21.80% stake in NOK might be joyful if Churangkul Group finally finds someone to sell NOK to, so that THAI can also sell its shares too!