Taiwanese carrier Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) has suspended ticket sales and will cease operations on Friday.
Following initial media reports citing internal documents, the airline has since publicly confirmed this action via a note on its website. The Chinese notice says that Far Eastern Air Transport was unable to raise the necessary capital and is therefore forced to end its operations.
1957-founded FAT is one of the few airlines in the world still operating the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 and MD-83. Its fleet consists of six MD-80 family aircraft, along with six ATR 72 turboprops. Eleven 737 MAX 8 were on order to replace the around 25 year-old MD-80s.
This is not the first time the airline is ending its flight operations. In 2008, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) of Taiwan (Republic of China) suspended FAT’s operating permit due to financial difficulties and a resulting bankruptcy proceeding. The carrier came back and relaunched flights in 2011.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
