Thailand’s government on Monday moved to address a “significant safety concern” by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that has the kingdom’s airlines facing bans on international flights.
The ICAO negative review, issued ten days ago, quickly led Japan and South Korea to block new flights from Thailand. There is concern other countries, including the United States, will also take such action.
A U.S. government source — who is not authorized to speak on the record — explained the ICAO report would probably trigger an audit of Thailand’s aviation sector by the Federal Aviation Administration. He called the ICAO audit results a “real red flag for the FAA.”
Japan and South Korea do not conduct their own assessments and usually rely on ICAO findings to take action.
Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau said that for now, no new charter flights operated by airlines registered in Thailand would be allowed to fly to Japanese airports because of concerns the carriers may not meet international safety standards.
The director-general of Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation, Somchai Piputvat, was to meet Monday with the prime minister who heads the governing junta, Prayuth Chan-ocha. The prime minister has ordered an urgent overhaul of the department.
Thailand’s transport ministry has called an urgent meeting of relevant government authorities for Wednesday after the ICAO rejected the civil aviation’s department corrective action plan.
Officials of Thailand’s government, under control of a military junta since last May’s coup, are blaming previous administrations for not paying heed to the problem.
“The issue has gone untouched for decades and no previous governments have ever regarded it as an important matter,” said transport minister Prajin Juntong.
Critics have said Thailand’s civil aviation sector suffers from frequent changes of government, corruption, complacency and incompetence.
The ICAO’s regional office in Bangkok said it was not authorized to comment on the audit, which has not been made public, and referred all inquiries to its headquarters in Montreal, Canada.
Irrespective of the ICAO findings, the FAA’s international aviation safety assessment would scrutinize Thailand in three critical areas: airworthiness of aircraft, airmen licensing and operator requirements, said a U.S. government official familiar with the procedures.
Currently-operated flights have not been affected by the ICAO audit. But additional flights, including those for Thailand’s mid-April Songkran festival, are now grounded. That has affected tens of thousands of tickets sold to travel agencies or individual travelers.
Travel operators said this has caused the cost of some package tours during the Songkran holiday to nearly double.
Besides the kingdom’s flag carrier, Thai Airways, the ICAO safety warning is also affecting low cost carriers Thai Air Asia X, NokScoot and Asia Atlantic Airlines.
Travel industry officials in Thailand worry that a perception the country’s airlines are unsafe could further hurt tourism. The critical sector for the Thai economy has been beset by safety concerns and political unrest.
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