The Legal Execution Department (LED) Wednesday put up for auction three aircraft, including one owned by a bankrupt airline that left 400 passengers stranded in Korea six years ago.
Two of them owned by Orient Airlines Co, are Boeing 737-3Z0 with the auction's starting price of 18 million baht each, said LED director-general Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol.
Starting at 10am, The auction took place at an aircraft disassembly facility of Don Mueang airport.
Another airplane is an Airbus A310-222, with a starting price of 15.75 million baht. Bidders were required to place 2.5 million baht in cash or cheques as collateral. The bid winner is obliged to pay the parking fee for Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) from the date when the aircraft was bought until it is moved out, said Ms Ruenvadee.
The aircraft belonged to Thai owned PC Air, which made headlines in October 2012 when its plane was refused permission to take off from Incheon International Airport, leaving 400 Thais stranded at the site. The refusal was said to have been triggered by a financial conflict between PC Air and its South Korean sales agent, Skyjet, over unpaid bills for airport charges and jet fuel, reportedly amounting to more than 10 million baht.
PC Air also drew attention at that time as it was billed as the world's first to employ the third gender as cabin attendants. The airline later declared bankruptcy and its assets were put up for auction. The aircraft was put up for five rounds of auction last year but it failed to draw interest by buyers although the starting price was pushed down from 30 million baht to 21 million baht.
As of last evening, no one had placed a bid. LED will hold the auction another two times.