Newsmakers
Thailand “a significant safety concern” says ICAO
April 1st 2015
Japan and South Korea have announced they will ban all new chartered and scheduled services into their countries that were to be operated by airlines registered in Thailand. Read More » The decision followed the news that the International Civil Aviation Association (ICAO) said its investigators were concerned about “Thailand’s accident investigation and airline operations oversight, airworthiness assessment and certification and personnel licensing and training”. It is believed that Thailand failed to meet 70 of the standard benchmarks required when ICAO conducts audits on a country’s aviation systems. Thailand-based media has said Thai aviation bodies “are struggling” to meet ICAO’s compliance requirements within the allocated 90-day grace period. If Thailand does not reach compliance standards in the time required, the U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration could downgrade Thailand to a category 2 safety rating, which would deliver a blow to the country’s expansion oriented budget carrier sector.
