Eighty-four creditor cooperatives and financial institutions of Thai Airways International have agreed to join forces to increase their bargaining power in talks with the ailing national flag carrier over debt settlements.

Their combined investments in the airline are estimated at about 60 billion baht.

THAI has filed for bankruptcy protection with the Central Bankruptcy Court and, as a result, its over 200 billion baht of debt has been frozen by the court. The airline has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US courts.

A cooperatives working committee is due to meet, with the Cooperative League of Thailand, the Cooperative Group of Thailand and creditor financial institutions, to discuss a petition, which must be submitted to the Central Bankruptcy Court ahead of the opening of the court’s enquiry stage, scheduled for August 17th .

Mr. Paramate Intharachumnoom, president of the Cooperative League of Thailand, said that none of the creditor cooperatives want politicians to sit on the new board of THAI and want competent people to be invited to help in the rehabilitation process.

The THAI board held a special meeting on Friday, and the three new board members, Messrs. Piyasvasti Amranand, Pirapan Saleeratthapark and Boontuck Wangcharoen, were introduced to the other main board members by the chairman, ACM Chaipruek Didyasarin.

The board has agreed that they will not receive a salary from the airline and will waive all the usual airline executive perks, including free air travel.