Thailand Facing POSSIBLE Global Flight Ban...

[747man]

April 9, 2015 12:00 am JST
Thailand scrambles to avert global new-flight ban
MICHAEL SAINSBURY, Asia regional correspondent

Bangkok's Don Muang Airport may become quieter if safety concerns cause more countries to ban Thai flights.
BANGKOK -- Thailand is rushing to prevent a possible global ban on new flights from the country after the Southeast Asian tourist hub failed a United Nations aviation safety audit.

The country's airline industry was branded a "significant safety concern" in an alert issued to governments on March 20 by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency. Thailand is understood to have failed all but 11 of 100 points in the audit, according to regional industry analysts.

Thailand's failing of the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program review prompted Japan, South Korea and, as some unconfirmed reports have suggested, China, to stop allowing new charter and scheduled flights from the country. The bans came just ahead of the peak travel season around the Songkran, or Thai New Year, holiday in mid-April.

About 400 additional flights carrying more than 150,000 passengers are expected to fly to and from Northeast Asia during the festive period.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia has increased "ramp inspections" of Thai Airways planes. "These inspections look at the condition of aircraft as well as flight and aircraft documentation," a spokesman told the Nikkei Asian Review. Aviation authorities in the European Union and Singapore also began inspecting aircraft registered in Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported on April 2.

Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based analyst at CAPA Consulting, a civil aviation consultancy, said: "The rules for regulators in Japan and South Korea are very strict, meaning immediate bans on new flights for Japan and new carriers [serving] South Korea."


Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a speech televised on April 3 that he will invoke military powers to bypass the legislative approvals normally needed to improve aviation safety. Photo: Ken Kobayashi
The moves came days before Thailand's military-led government lifted martial law on April 1. As the damaging implications of the situation became clear, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha vowed to invoke controversial and unlimited powers available to him under section 44 of the interim constitution to shore up the aviation industry.

The aim is to swiftly improve safety and revamp the Department of Civil Aviation, Prayuth said in a speech on April 3. "Normally, the whole process would be expected to take up to one and a half years," he said. "Under Article 44, the process can be shortened to three months."

The airline sector is essential for tourism, which accounts for 10% of gross domestic product. Thailand's skies are the busiest in Southeast Asia in terms of aircraft traffic.

Results kept secret

ICAO concerns about Thailand's aviation regulation began with its last audit in 2005, but the latest results were kept secret for a month as the country's DCA drew up proposals to address the issues raised by the U.N. agency.

On March 2, the U.N. agency rejected an initial proposal under which the DCA would have taken two years to ease the problems, which include internal conflicts and excessive issuance of air operator certificates.

Many of these certificates were issued to "paper" airlines that have never flown an aircraft. Commercial aircraft cannot be operated without them.

Following the breakdown of talks, the ICAO shared its audit results with countries receiving flights operated by Thai airlines, leading to the restrictions.

In South Korea, transport authorities are still reeling from a ferry disaster in April 2014 that claimed 304 lives, and are dealing with the Thai issue "by the book," an airline executive said on condition of anonymity.

At least seven airlines have been hit by the bans: they include Thai Airways; Bangkok Airways, the country's No. 2 carrier; Thai AirAsia X, a subsidiary of Malaysia-based AirAsia, the region's leading budget carrier; NokScoot, a joint venture between the budget offshoots of Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines; small Thailand-based scheduled and charter carriers Jet Asia Airways and Orient Thai Airlines; as well as charter operator Asia Atlantic Airlines.

Growing regional concerns

The latest turmoil to hit Thailand's airline sector comes amid concerns about the safety of rapidly expanding discount carriers.

There have been several fatal accidents involving Asian airlines over the past 13 months, including the crashes of AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia, TransAsia Airways Flight 235 in Taipei, and Malaysia Airlines flights MH370 and MH17.

Most worrying for Thailand is the specter of a full audit by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which would pinpoint carriers operating services to American cities, including code-sharing arrangements with U.S. airlines, and could lead to EU bans too.

[jai yen yen]

Sounds like the same standards as the bus and train in Thailand.

[ting_tong]

this is from Apr. 9 ??? its old news and some of the crap has been corrected already.

747, you are supposed to show a link where the news came from too:

http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/2015040 ... flight-ban

[parrot]

this is from Apr. 9 ??? its old news and some of the crap has been corrected already.

747, you are supposed to show a link where the news came from too:

http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/2015040 ... flight-ban

I'd hardly call Apr 9 as 'old news'. Revamping any bureaucracy is a challenge...... A Thai bureaucracy more so. The junta leader says he can do it in 3 months versus 18......but he also said he was going to fix lottery ticket prices.....and hasn't yet solved that problem.
The proliferation of low cost airlines......together with a lack of proper oversight of the country's airlines should be a concern to anyone flying in/out of the country. I'd normally say "IMHO".... But in this case a variety of other countries beat me to the punch

[FrazeeDK]

well, much of its been blamed on the previous administration as well as underfunding/undermanning of the Thai bureau responsible for civil aviation certification and safety.. Let's see if Article 44 can make quick fixes on a stodgy bureaucracy...

[kubotatim]

From my experiences here, maintenance is not part of the Thai language, fix only when broken seems to be the mindset. Fly on any Thai owned/managed airline, no thank you.

[ting_tong]

this is from Apr. 9 ??? its old news and some of the crap has been corrected already.

747, you are supposed to show a link where the news came from too:

http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/2015040 ... flight-ban

I'd hardly call Apr 9 as 'old news'. Revamping any bureaucracy is a challenge...... A Thai bureaucracy more so. The junta leader says he can do it in 3 months versus 18......but he also said he was going to fix lottery ticket prices.....and hasn't yet solved that problem.
The proliferation of low cost airlines......together with a lack of proper oversight of the country's airlines should be a concern to anyone flying in/out of the country. I'd normally say "IMHO".... But in this case a variety of other countries beat me to the punch

One of the things I follow on a daily basis is the online news, it was Japan and Korea and China (HK) calling out Thailand airlines for having low safety standards. Most of that has been sorted out and reported about in articles, the Thailand airlines are not blocked from flying into Japan or Korea, they came close and had gotten serious warnings. The carriers in question was Thai air and Nok, there is another not well known one too. Threatening tourism forced Thai aviation to comply immediately.

[ting_tong]

most of the articles start on page 2

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/page-1/

[747man]

this is from Apr. 9 ??? its old news and some of the crap has been corrected already.

747, you are supposed to show a link where the news came from too:

http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/2015040 ... flight-ban

O.K Boss !! Will Do in Future...With OLD,NEW,& CRAP If you wish....

[TJ]

Odd that the United Nations was able to become involved in any nation's air industry safety as it is better known as a useless, bloated political parasite without any practical expertise. Still odder was that the extremely corrupt UN agents didn't take a bribe to issue a clean report. Maybe they took it, asked for more and was refused. The Thais should never have accepted any UN interference. Still, the Thais must attend to conforming to proper air safety reqirements.

[wazza]

Australian Authorities all over them also

mentioned here on UM April 2nd

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/t ... 3-120.html

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-up ... 7289723000

[parrot]

Odd that the United Nations was able to become involved in any nation's air industry safety as it is better known as a useless, bloated political parasite without any practical expertise. Still odder was that the extremely corrupt UN agents didn't take a bribe to issue a clean report. Maybe they took it, asked for more and was refused. The Thais should never have accepted any UN interference. Still, the Thais must attend to conforming to proper air safety reqirements.

You might want to read up on the role of the ICAO

[tataw]

It would appear that the DCA didn't take the ICAO report seriously.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/19/trave ... on-safety/

Maybe too many people in "Inactive Posts"?

[reddevil]

Well what about the Dan air flight from Pattaya being cancelled as of last monday by the Thai CAA for not having the correct paperwork ?

[GT93]

Personally I would be more scared of flying in the US than Thailand. The crashes often seem to be in the US and in their winter. I'm not using statistics to arrive at that opinion.

Internationally I think the US has an image as a very dangerous country in many many respects. I don't think Thailand has that image despite what ex-pats in Thailand might think. I'm not saying those impressions are correct.

[wazza]

Getting a feeling my Gold Card is about to be reduced to Junk Status.

[jai yen yen]

Personally I would be more scared of flying in the US than Thailand. The crashes often seem to be in the US and in their winter. I'm not using statistics to arrive at that opinion.

Internationally I think the US has an image as a very dangerous country in many many respects. I don't think Thailand has that image despite what ex-pats in Thailand might think. I'm not saying those impressions are correct.

I don't doubt that the Thai airlines are run similar to the bus and trains , in that case I would say they are a lot more dangerous than the U.S.

[Drunk Monkey]

Personally I would be more scared of flying in the US than Thailand. The crashes often seem to be in the US and in their winter. I'm not using statistics to arrive at that opinion.

Internationally I think the US has an image as a very dangerous country in many many respects. I don't think Thailand has that image despite what ex-pats in Thailand might think. I'm not saying those impressions are correct.

GT ..........GET ORF THE FENCE YER TWOT u might get splinters ...... the US is a big place as is its air space .. Thailand is mear fart bubble on the underpants of life so how can you judge both in the same way .. but im not saying my impreesions are correct .

[tataw]

And this statement from the supposedly leader??????

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... d-flagging

I wonder if there would be a similar statement from the President of the United States id the situation existed in the States?

[wazza]

The US Audit will probably be just as critical perhaps.

BKK ICH LAX is the only TG flight into US and was cited ages ago by TG as a possible dropped schedule under their budget reviews.

A poor audit finding is perhaps also the rationale to delete the service.