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Thai Transport Minister Tells Airlines to Improve Operations
4th Oct 2016
Thailand Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith seems to have had it with certain domestic airlines that keep delaying their flights and has now warned them to improve operations ASAP.
Mr Arkhom said planes must always be ready for service and delays are “unwanted”.
The minister has called on Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) to act against those carriers that frequently delay their scheduled flights.
CAAT chief Chula Sukmanop has already pinpointed the worst offender and it is Nok Air. However, on Monday, Mr Chula said CAAT had not yet made a decision whether to suspend Nok Air or allow it to continue operating. Before that, he said, he will first need to sit down with the carrier’s top brass and find out why Nok Air is experiencing these constant problems.
Speaking of Nok Air’s woes, they were the most prominent in February when a sizable group of pilots organized a walk out in the middle of a shift due to being forced to work more than standard flight hours.
The shortage problem appeared to have been solved until last month, when it reappeared.
Nok Air is also one of Thai-based carriers that must go through the re-inspection of their Air Operator Certificates (AOC) following the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) “red flagging” in June, 2015 due to substantial safety concerns. Mr Chula said he expects the first seven or eight airlines to receive their certificates in January or February next year.
AOC Re-Issuing Process Already Underway
According to Mr Arkhom, the authorities have already started the AOC re-issuing process for 25 airlines last month. In September, while visiting ICAO’s headquarters in Montreal, Canada, the minister said ICAO execs were “satisfied with our solutions”.
One of those solutions included splitting the Department of Civil Aviation, which is now defunct into the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand and Department of Airports. However, that solution had to be scrapped after ICAO noticed a conflict of interest in the department’s role as a service provider and a supervisor.
The CAAT now assumes a regulatory note under the new structure. According to Mr Chula, CAAT should finish 75 per cent of re-inspections by March, 2017 and will then ask ICAO to conduct new airlines audits.
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