Thai Airways posts $30m loss

Thai Airways posts $30m loss

BANGKOK: Thai Airways announced on Friday a 1.27 billion baht
(US$30 million) loss in the three months to June compared to 3.45
billion baht profits a year ago, as the SARS crisis turned its
balance sheet red.

The airline said that in the nine months to June its net
profit fell 24 percent to 7.02 billion baht from 9.22 billion
baht in the previous corresponding period.

In June the flag carrier said it expected to post an operating
loss of 6.0 billion baht for April-July due to damage caused by
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.

The deadly form of pneumonia swept through parts of the region
earlier this year, devastating the regional tourism industry and
cutting Thai Airways' passenger traffic by 40 percent in May.

However, the airline said earlier this month that it expected
its passenger loads to improve to normal levels of 70 percent in
the three months to September.--AFP

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Thai Airways posts $30m loss
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Dragonair drops lawsuit against Cathay

HONG KONG: Hong Kong-based carrier Dragonair has decided to
drop its petition to quash a license given to Cathay Pacific for
resuming its China flights after a 13-year absence, the airline's
spokeswoman said on Friday.

"We are not proceeding with the judicial review," she said,
without giving details.

The decision came just two weeks before a court review was
due.

In May, the airline challenged in court the decision by Hong
Kong's Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) to grant Cathay
Pacific the right to fly to Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.

Dragonair said then that ATLA did not have the power under the
Basic Law -- Hong Kong's mini constitution -- to grant licenses
for Cathay to fly to Shanghai and Xiamen.

In April, ATLA had granted approval to Cathay to resume flying
to the three Chinese cites for the first time since 1990 despite
objections from Dragonair, which, over the past 13 years, has
been the only Hong Kong-based airline with rights to fly
scheduled passenger services to China

In approving flagship carrier Cathay's application, the three-
member ATLA panel rejected claims by Dragonair that a resumption
of Cathay's flights to China would financially devastate the
smaller airline.

ATLA said on April 17 that Cathay would be allowed to operate
up to three round-trips each day on lucrative routes to Shanghai
and Beijing, and three services to Xiamen each week. The licence
will be valid for five years.

Since ATLA granted Cathay's application, the Hong Kong
government has designated Cathay as the second local carrier to
operate on the Beijing route.

Dragonair is 43.29 percent owned by China National Aviation,
and Cathay Pacific has a 19 percent stake.--AFP

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MCI may have avoided taxes

NEW YORK: Bankrupt telecoms group MCI, formerly WorldCom, may
have avoided "hundreds of millions of dollars in state taxes"
between 1999 and 2001 on the basis of advice from KPMG
accountants, The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

In a bid to minimize its state taxes, the telecoms group moved
up to US$19 billion in revenue, over three years, through a
Delaware-based subsidiary of the company.

"Because Delaware doesn't tax the income of out-of-state
corporations, the move substantially reduced WorldCom's
nonfederal income-tax obligations," the newspaper said citing an
accounting analysis filed as part of the company's bankruptcy
proceedings.

KPMG advised WorldCom to declare much of its regular income as
being returns on intellectual property, rather than as receipts
from sales of telephone services, the newspaper said.

An MCI spokeswoman declined to address the claims in the
report.

"We have generally addressed taxes and related issues in our
plan of reorganization and look forward to discussing them more
fully during our (bankruptcy) confirmation hearing," said MCI
spokeswoman Claire Hassatt.

The hearing, which is expected to represent one of the final
hurdles enabling MCI to reemerge from bankruptcy, is due to occur
Sept. 8 and could last some two weeks, according to Hassatt.
--AFP