UN watchdog uncovers ‘significant safety concerns’ in Thai aviation

Global Business

Tony Cheng

Published April 2, 2015 at 5:59 PM
Updated April 3, 2015 at 10:44 AM

Thai airlines are facing strict regulation of their operations in a number of Asian countries after the international safety watchdog said it had concerns over operational checks. The department of Civil Aviation in Bangkok said they are trying to remedy the problem. Its original time frame of two years to fix the problem has been rejected as too slow. The concern of the airlines is that flight restrictions could spread further. CCTV’s Tony Cheng filed this report from Bangkok.

UN watchdog uncovers \'significant safety concerns\' in Thai aviation

Thai airlines are facing strict regulation of their operations in a number of Asian countries after the international safety watchdog said it had concerns over operational checks. The department of Civil Aviation in Bangkok said they are trying to remedy the problem. Its original time frame of two years to fix the problem has been rejected as too slow. The concern of the airlines is that flight restrictions could spread further.CCTV's Tony Cheng filed this report from Bangkok.

Highlights:

  • Thai airlines were told their activities are being limited in China, Japan and South Korea. Charter flights are banned, new routes limited and existing routes must use the specified planes and times.
  • The U.N.’s watchdog, the International Civil Aviation Organization (IACO), sighted ‘significant safety concerns’.
  • Thailand’s Prime Minister announced he would invoke an emergency law granting him absolute power to resolve the problems.

According to the 2014 Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook, there’s great global demand for new commercial pilots and technicians, with 41 percent of all demand for pilots coming from the Asia-Pacific region.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration estimates that were about 115,000 male and female commercial pilots in 2013, an 11 percent decline from 2004.

Jarumporn Chotikasathein of Thailand Airways discusses financial decline

Thai Airways, the country’s largest airline has already been suffering financially even before the audit. It posted a loss the last two year, and expects more of the same this year. Tony Cheng spoke with the President of the state-owned company Jarumporn Chotikasathein and asked if this was the toughest job in Thailand.