6 replies to this topic

[LBK]

http://www.bangkokpo...ai-flyers-wings

Thailand's aviation industry has begun to feel the pinch of Thai authorities' failures to comply with global standards, as Japan and South Korea have taken pre-emptive action to curb air service by Thailand-registered carriers in their countries.

Tokyo and Seoul civil aviation authorities this week banned new charter and scheduled flights operated by Thai-registered airlines to their countries, as they are doubtful of the Thai Civil Aviation Department's ability to meet international standards for aviation safety.

But scheduled and charter flights to Japan and South Korea already operating will be immune from the ban on the condition they do not change the types of aircraft serving those routes, aviation executives with knowledge of the issue told the Bangkok Post Thursday.

• Earlier report: Japan caps Thai flights amidst safety concerns

The decision has thrown Thai airlines focused on the two countries into disarray, with tens of thousands of Thai travellers affected.

The inauguration of service to Incheon airport, South Korea's gateway hub, by NokScoot, Thailand's No.2 low-cost long-haul carrier, that was scheduled for May 10 is now halted.

NokScoot's charter flights from Bangkok's Don Mueang airport to Japan starting from May 16 with 20,000 seats already sold are also suspended. Scheduled flights to Narita, the main airport serving Tokyo, by NokScoot now face further delays.

Thai AirAsia X, the country's first long-haul low-cost airline, planned to launch a daily service linking Bangkok with Sapporo, Japan on May 1, but that is now off the radar.

A host of smaller Thai charter airlines, which have sold thousands of seats to bring Thai Songkran revellers mostly to Japan next month, are also grounded.

Aviation executives expressed grave concerns the ban could snowball into a full-blown curb of all flights operated by Thai-registered carriers to Japan and South Korea or that other countries such as the US and China or EU members could take similar punitive action as Indonesia faced in the past.

"Thai aviation's credibility is seriously at stake and may take years to re-establish if the Civil Aviation Department fails to meet the global yardsticks," one executive said.

The department risks a downgrade by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) from Category 1 to Category 2 as result of its recent audit covering a broad range of areas relevant to aviation safety and airline operations. But that is intended to assess the performance and expertise of the civil aviation authority and not of individual airlines.

Some of the main areas considered were personnel licensing and training, airworthiness assessment and certification, accident investigation and airline operations oversight and licensing.

Much speculation involves the shortage of inspectors and procedures for granting air operator licences and certificates of airworthiness as well as the conflict in allowing the Civil Aviation Department to license airlines and operate airports.

Industry executives said the department was able to meet only 21 out of 100 requirements imposed by the ICAO.

The department has been struggling to meet ICAO compliance under a 90-day grace period as the global aviation community has begun to cast a suspicious eye towards Thailand, another executive said.

An ICAO downgrade would not have an immediate effect on Thai airlines, but it could lead US and EU aviation safety authorities to review Thailand's aviation safety standards, Alan Polivnick of international law firm Watson Farley & Williams (Thailand) told the Bangkok Post.

"If the US Federal Aviation Administration downgrades Thailand to Category 2, Thai Airways could continue its flights to Los Angeles but could not add new US destinations or change the aircraft used on this route," he said.

Mr Polivnick said US carriers would immediately have to end code-shares with Thai carriers where the Thai carriers were the operating carrier, as happened to the Philippines and South Korea.

But an EU move would be more significant, given the traffic involved.

The EU blacklisted all 51 Indonesian carriers from European airspace in 2007 for two years, citing lax safety standards.

[rxpharm]

Thanks for posting LBK - this could have a big impact any Thai airline options to get to LOS. Hopefully the Thai Civil Aviation Dept will get their act together in time.

[LBK]

http://www.news.com....c-1227409358814

THAILAND has failed to meet a deadline for addressing safety concerns about its oversight of its airlines and has been added to a list of nations whose aviation authorities fall short of international standards, the UN body regulating world air traffic said.

A spokesman for the International Civil Aviation Organization, Anthony Philbin, said from the group’s headquarters in Montreal that its main concern focused on Thailand’s ability to conduct air operator certifications.

ICAO audited Thailand in January - for the first time since 2005 - and in March gave Thai authorities 90 days to rectify shortcomings it had found. Thailand failed to meet the deadline and joined 12 other nations found deficient in managing their airlines: Angola, Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Georgia, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malawi, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Uruguay. There are 187 ICAO members in all.

Thailand’s preliminary listing in March caused disruption to the country’s airline industry, as the ICAO evaluation led Japan, South Korea and China to temporarily block Thai airlines from adding more flights or otherwise modifying their schedules.

Philbin and Thai transport officials stressed that the new listing does not amount to a fresh downgrading of Thai aviation, and said the country’s aviation authorities are working hard to correct the problems. The ICAO spokesman said Thai Deputy Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith travelled to ICAO headquarters recently "to stress his country’s commitment, at the highest level, to continue to address this matter in their civil aviation authority, and we continue to work collaboratively with Thailand to help it achieve that goal."

However, the issue is likely to continue to draw attention from aviation bodies in Europe and the United States, whose assessments are influential worldwide, and could lead to new restrictions on international flights by Thai airlines.

Transport Minister Prajin Juntong said at a news conference Friday that air operator certifications and permission to ship hazardous goods were the major issues cited by ICAO.

He said the European Civil Aviation Conference has been evaluating Thailand’s aviation measures and is expected to announce on June 25 its policy on Thai airlines.

[LBK]

http://www.bangkokpo...s-thai-aviation

FAA downgrades Thai aviation
1 Dec 2015 at 20:42

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Thailand’s aviation sector, setting the stage for possible worldwide bans of Thai-registered airlines.

"A reassessment in July 2015 found that Thailand did not meet international standards," the US regulation agency said a statement posted on its website on Tuesday.

"Today's announcement follows ongoing discussions with the government of Thailand which concluded on Oct 28," it added.

The decision means Thailand has dropped to Category 2 from Category 1, increasing odds that Thai carriers will be subjected to service curtailments or outright bans not only in the US, but Europe and Asia.

Thailand had been rated on Category 1 since 1997. That status allowed Thai-registered carriers to fly to the US and launch new services.

"With a Category 2 rating, Thailand's carriers can continue existing service to the United States. They will not be allowed to establish new service to the United States," the FAA said.

The FAA previously downgraded the Philippines to Category 2 and imposed a complete flight ban on its airlines. The European Union, through its European Aviation Safety Agency, traditionally follows the FAA's lead.

That agency used an FAA downgrade of Indonesia's aviation-safety standards to impose a total flight ban on that country's airlines for several years.

The EASA, which also recently audited Thailand's aviation system, will release the results of its investigation on Dec 15.

Ironically, the only Thai carrier to serve the United States, Thai Airways International, ended all flights to North America on Oct 25 due to intense competition on transpacific routes and the airline's ongoing cost-cutting plans to drop unprofitable routes.

The downgrade followed the audit by the FAA in July and the US agency had sent the results to the US embassy in Thailand.

The FAA's move came after the Montreal-based International Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had given Thailand a red flag on June 18 after the country could not meet its standards for regulating aviation businesses and granting air operator certificates.

The FAA inspections found the same results that Thailand does not comply with the ICAO standards.

[scottieM]

That's pretty weird and whether "guilty" or not, TG risks to pay a toll because their national authorities aren't able to run their own agency properly.
Wondering whether the scheduled maintenance coild be run elsewhere, in a reliable country where all is in order.
Often it is the case of paperworks and /or loose follow of the procedures.
If the Thai agency doesn't re-direct their action, the end of TG can come sooner than expected.
Maybe they have another airline already in the dryer to fill the gap.
Maybe with differs crew contracts
Maybe with different salary for their employees.
Maybe thgovernemnt has enough to sustain TG debts and doesn't bother if the national agency tears down TG.
But what about the other airlines? Bangkok air, Nok, to name just a couple.
Air Asia might operate under another airworthiness certificate and not subject to Thai registration...

[LBK]

http://www.bangkokpo...rade-air-safety

EASA spares Thai airlines, gives more time to upgrade air safety
10 Dec 2015 at 18:32

The European Aviation Safety Agency on Thursday spared Thai-registered airlines a ban from European skies, saying instead it will closely monitor and assist the country in upgrading its air-safety standards.

While the EASA did not yet publish the full results of its recent safety audit, the European Commission said in a statement that no Thai-registered airlines were added to its EU Air Safety List for the listing of carriers subject to operational bans or restrictions in the European Union to be updated officially on Friday.

"The commission and the EASA are willing to continue to work with the Thai authorities to enhance aviation safety in the country," the statement read. "The commission and EASA will, however, closely monitor future developments and, if the protection of air passengers against safety risks so requires, the commission could then propose to include one or more air carriers from Thailand in the Air Safety List."

The EU reprieve comes as the first bit of good news in a while for the Thai aviation sector, which has been reeling this year after air-safety downgrades from both the International Civil Aviation Organization and US Federal Aviation Administration.

While last week's FAA downgrade dealt a powerful blow to the country's international image, it, so far, has had no material impact, as no Thai carriers currently serve North America.

The same would not have been true had the EASA slapped Thailand with a ban or restrictions. Thai Airways Thai Airways International and charter carrier Mjets both serve the European market with the Europe responsible for an estimated 30% of THAI's revenue.

Europe is Thailand's second largest tourism market, with the number of European tourists accounting for about 18% of total international visitors this year. About four million Europeans visit Thailand every year with about a quarter of those flying THAI.

EASA visited Thailand earlier this year and on Wednesday the Department of Civil Aviation signed an agreement with the agency that will see EASA experts help Thailand improve its air-safety oversight.

[scottieM]

They main question is
Does Thai Airways (and in a pinch Mjet) comply with the EASA standards?
What is questioned by FAA and EASA is the capacity of the thai civil authority.
True there see some links and TG might suffer Of their own authority incapacity, But what is the non compliance affecting?
All the rest is pure beauraucracy.
What do the asian controllers say?
What do the australian controllers say?