Government fears European judgment on Thai aviation
With trembling knees, the Thai authorities await the verdict of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Next Thursday, the EASA will publish a report on the safety of Thai aviation.
The government has barely recovered from the red flag it received this week from the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Thailand was downgraded from category 1 to category 2. This immediately caused panic on the Stock of Exchange of Thailand, where the main index fell by 1,3 percent on Monday. Shares of airlines and hotels in particular sold quickly. EASA is expected to downgrade Thai aviation following the FAA's lead.
The government is shocked by the reactions to the FAA ruling and is trying to limit the damage. Prime Minister Prayut says that the situation is only harmful to the aviation sector, but not to the entire Thai economy. Deputy Prime Minister Somkid sees the crisis as an opportunity to finally improve the aviation sector.
The economic department of the Siam Commercial Bank expects a penalty, but thinks THAI Airways International will be allowed to continue flying to Europe. This is because the airline has an Operational Safety Audit Certification from the International Transport Association. THAI flies to twelve European destinations. In case of a penalty, no new routes may be used and no other types of aircraft may be flown. THAI is the only airline registered in Thailand that flies to Europe. The other airlines mainly fly to destinations in Asia.
For THAI it is yet another setback. The airline is under heavy pressure due to ongoing losses. Europe is an important market and accounts for a quarter of annual turnover. Bangkok Airways will also be hit by a possible penalty. The airline has six European airlines as code-sharing partners. British Airways and Air France provide significant passenger numbers for the airline's domestic and regional flights.
View the graphical overview of the problems in Thai aviation here.
Source: Bangkok Post – http://goo.gl/9Xyte5
The commentary of the Bangkok Post does not lie: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/783473/aviation-crisis-looms-large
Next Thursday it will be an EASA report on the safety of Thai aviation. That's what the Americans were all about. See: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/782065/us-faa-downgrades-thai-air-safety-rating
It is good that the EU is now also sending strong signals to the TH aviation sector, after the US did the same earlier this week. Scare them. They will do their best, hopefully. It's crazy that TH has to be woken up in this way, and urged to take safety seriously. As I said before: as a passenger or family member you cannot have the same thing happen as with AirAsia at the end of 2014, when an airplane with 162 passengers died due to technical defects and subsequent incompetence or lack of action by the pilots. https://www.thailandblog.nl/nieuws-uit-thailand/technisch-en-menselijk-falen-bij/
It is also strange that TH still and constantly ignores international warnings, and still lets things get to the bottom of things, as was the case last year with the shrimp and fishing industry, with the issues of child labor and migrant exploitation, with problems with refugees and deportations to China, and most recently with abuses in the chicken slaughter sector. If the PM finds it necessary to pull out a famous article to tackle the problems, that is once again proof that the TH society is nowhere near mature.
If you read the reactions of the airlines, I think the Thai live in a completely different world. Reactions especially of: “We do not fly to America ” are completely irrelevant.
It's about air safety and that's a whole different thing. Security is the issue here, not whether or not you are allowed to fly to America.
Can you imagine the safety requirements of buses, trains, boats, etc. in Thailand?
The Thai reaction is significant, but not really surprising.
However, they are mistaken in the international aviation sector where safety (rightly so) has the highest priority. The typical Thai laxity is not tolerated there. If the Thai aviation sector gets away with this nationally, it does have a negative international impact if planes fall out of the sky in Thailand due to non-compliance or poorly executed inspections and maintenance.
THAI will also suffer from this, because passengers would prefer to choose a reliable airline. That immediately costs THAI money and they already lack that….
Thailand would do well to take (preventive) maintenance extremely seriously and to realize that cheap is going to be expensive! In order not to end up like Malaysia Airlines, THAI must NOW put its routes in order, reorganize its workforce and appoint a management that is not led by “friends” of the government or junta in office at the time. But yes, that last one can be the hardest….
No idea what is right and what is less?
Of course “Every” society should be aware of the responsibility that one bears.
Always pointing at something or someone distracts from problems elsewhere.
At http://www.jacdec.de they are on the 47th of 2015 (list of 60) is not too bad!
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_vliegrampen_naar_aantal_slachtoffers
Often turns out to be a cause of human failure even though you have the best planes and pilots.
Trade in cheap parts, market pressure, international government interference, not to forget the weather, or knowledge of the language (English) http://www.tvcn.nl/nl/blog/2014/11/18/wist-u-dat-engels-de-officiële-taal-van-de-luchtvaart-is/
If you're reading this you don't dare to go up in the air anymore, but you do go on the road haha
Approximately 1.24 million deaths occurred on the world's roads in 2013 (ff other figures)
Well time will tell
grsj
Was in a Thai Airways plane on a domestic flight last year above the wing and looked outside and saw 1 rivet of the wing going up and down on take-off and landing, around it were more rivets, these were fixed with silicone sealant or something. Well, we're still here, but you keep looking at it, you get a strange feeling.