The Thai Ministry of Finance, its biggest shareholder, now plans to reduce its shareholding — perhaps allowing Thai Airways to shed its state enterprise status. Like Malaysia Airlines, the COVID-19 crisis has forced it to choose between going bankrupt and abandoning its flag carrier status, or being acquired by another airline. Other airlines in Southeast Asia share the same destiny, with Vietnam Airlines revealing a US$284 million loss, Philippine Airlines posting US$183.1 million in losses and Singapore Airlines recording a loss of approximately US$538 million in the first half of this year. Garuda Indonesia similarly announced US$696 million in losses. The crisis is not contained to FSCs — AirAsia Group, the LCC with the biggest market share in the region, is also in the red, with losses of up to US$188 million. The underperformance of Southeast Asian airlines will shape how they restructure and downsize post-COVID-19.