ICAO gives Thailand |4 more months to sort out safety standards as red flag stands

Transport Minister ACM Prajin Juntong admitted the country had not passed the ICAO safety standards yet, but vowed to continue the hard work to get the red flag removed as soon as possible.

Thai Airways International, meanwhile, issued a statement reassuring its customers worldwide that the airline had consistently adhered to the highest international safety standards and was not affected by the red flag.

In February this year, the ICAO told Thailand it had significant concerns (SSC) regarding aviation safety standards.

Prajin said yesterday the ICAO had told Thai officials in Canada that the Kingdom had until November this year to continue tackling the issue before the next evaluation.

“In my opinion, it looks like we failed this time,” said Prajin, adding that aviation authorities in other countries might consider cancelling flights operating from Thailand due to the red flag.

Thai-registered airlines will likely face a loss of goodwill, higher operating costs and increasing competition from foreign carriers. In addition, Thai carriers can expect an increase in costs from higher aircraft lease rates, more stringent maintenance covenants, and surges in insurance premiums.

The industry will likely see increased competition from foreign carriers that may launch new routes to capture under-served passengers travelling to and from Thailand. Thai carriers may also lose personnel to foreign counterparts looking to boost their own manpower.

Of all the sub-segments in the airline industry, charter carriers will lose out the most as their operating licences are issued on a case-by-case basis, while full service airlines and medium-haul low-cost carriers will experience some setbacks to their growth plans from an inability to fly new routes or increase flight frequencies. Domestic low-cost carriers will likely be the least affected.

According to the ICAO website, Thailand had secured 76.19 per cent for aviation legislation while getting only 46.15 per cent for organisation of government agencies to ensure safety standards, which is below the global average.

As for operations, the country got 64.84 per cent, slightly above the global average of 66.24 per cent. Earlier, the ICAO said the significant safety concerns meant that there were questions about the ability of the state to properly oversee airlines under its jurisdiction.

As for other aspects, comprising airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation services, and aerodromes, Thailand got higher scores than the global average.

Currently, the countries hit with a red flag are Angola, Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Georgia, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malawi, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Uruguay.

Meanwhile, Thai Airways International president Charamporn Jotikasthira said: “A significant safety concern [as cited by the ICAO] does not necessarily indicate a particular safety deficiency in the air-navigation service providers, airlines [air operators], aircraft or aerodromes but, rather, indicates that the state is not providing sufficient safety oversight to ensure the effective implementation of applicable ICAO standards.”