Taiwan's TransAsia Airways seeks to wind down company

By Faith Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's TransAsia Airways Corp, a struggling airline with a poor safety record, said on Tuesday its board had approved a move to wind down the company and that all flights would be suspended.

The move by Taiwan's third-largest carrier has come as a shock to the island's airline and tourism industries as well as the government.

"This is a very painful choice for the company," Chief Executive Daniel Liu told a news briefing.

"Our communications with investors have not been successful," he said, adding that six to seven options had been discussed including restructuring and raising more capital.

TransAsia has reported losses in each of the previous six quarters up to the end of September, hurt by a downturn in business after two plane crashes in 2014 and 2015.

The carrier also said it would not be able to pay back a convertible bond due later this month due to lack of capital. Details on the bond or how much debt TransAsia has were not immediately available.

Early this year, Taiwan's aviation safety agency urged TransAsia to review its safety protocols, pilot training programme and hiring practices so as to cut "imminent risks".

Those recommendations were among 10 made by the Aviation Safety Council following its investigation into a July 2014 crash of TransAsia's flight GE222 which killed 48 of the 58 passengers and crew.

Less than a year later, another flight crashed into a river shortly after taking off from Taipei's Songshan airport.

(Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)