Addendum
Nok Air unfairly attacked says its CEO
November 1st 2016
Patee Sarasin, the flamboyant chief executive of Nok Air, has angrily rejected claims the Thai carrier has one of the worst reputations for cancelling or delaying flights. Read More »
The carrier hit the headlines in October when Thailand’s Transport Minister, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) to act against airlines with “troubled” flight schedules. CAAT chief, Chula Sukmanop, said Nok Air was one of the worst offenders and warned its management that its operating permit could be suspended.
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That did not eventuate, but Patee was more than unhappy about being singled out. “Let’s be fair, we are not as bad as some people, especially on social media, have portrayed us to be,” he told Thai media. “We are subject to hate reports and comments that in many cases are trivial. They have been blown out of proportion by both traditional and social media.”
Earlier this year, a pilot shortfall at Nok, provoked by a mass walkout of cockpit crew, escalated into a pilot strike. Cockpit crew said they were being forced to exceed standard flight hours. Nok lost many experienced pilots as a result of the dispute. The empty cockpits lead to mass cancellations of flights and did serious damage to Nok’s reputation with the travelling public.
“That’s history,” said Patee last month. “We have an abundance of pilots, many of whom joined after the incident earlier this year. They support our growth.”
He said the carrier’s flight delays were mostly beyond the airlines’ control and were caused by the rainy season. “Frankly, there was nothing much we could do about it. Such problems are not unique to Nok Air. They are experienced by other airlines. Nok Air is, unfortunately, singled out,” he said.
Defending his airline, Patee quoted figures from global flight tracker, FlightStats, which had ranked Nok Air seventh out of 40 low-cost carriers in the Asia-Pacific for on-time performance in September - with an 81% score, he said.
“When things like flight delays affect passengers, we follow established industry procedures. We comply with regulatory standards including ticket refunding to show our responsibility,” he said.
Patee also denied suggestions that its on-time performance or flight safety standards were caused by its aged aircraft, poor maintenance and over-utilization of its planes.
The bulk of Nok Air’s fleet is relatively young, he said, with new B737-800s entering service at the carrier in the past few years, while older aircraft are around eight years old.
Nok operates 22 B737-800s, eight Bombardier Q800 NextGen turboprops and two ATR 72 turboprops. He said Nok aircraft are maintained by Lufthansa Technik, under global standards.
“On a daily average, we fly nine hours for each aircraft, and we can ramp up to 11 hours as per industry practice,” he said.
Nok will launch flights to Kunming and Guangzhou next month, adding to its regional destinations of Yangon, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. “China is clearly a very big market with significant traffic flow,” said Patee.
