From the pages of the Bangkok Post, Monday 28 June 2004.........

AVIATION

Airlines told to hire more Thai pilots

Amornrat Mahitthirook

The Transport Ministry will force domestic airlines to hire more local pilots in a plan to create more job opportunities.

Deputy Transport Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri has told the Aviation Department to change its regulations so alien pilots are kept at less than half the total workforce.

New airlines, however, will be allowed to use foreign pilots for their first year, but will have to comply with the rules in their second year of operation, he said.

The rules could be eased if the country faces a shortage of pilots, he said. However, they would not come into effect immediately as airlines needed time to adjust.

The changes would take effect in the next two years, which should be long enough for airlines to adjust.

Mr Vichet said the change was necessary to give new and unemployed Thai pilots a better chance to find jobs.

A ministry source said Orient Thai Airlines, Thai Air Asia and Phuket Airlines were among air operators which hire many foreign pilots.

Udom Tantiprasongchai, chief executive officer of Orient Thai, which runs the budget passenger carrier One-Two-Go, said strict regulations will affect local airlines that rely on foreign pilots.

Thailand has no experienced aviators to supply the fast growing commercial market, he said.

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This article raises a few questions as to how a country with Thailands population and an air force (OK an air force in name anyway) cannot train up sufficient pilots to ensure there is no shortage for the countries airlines.

It's not exactly as if they had that many planes or carriers is it?

On one hand we have this Dep Transport Minister guy saying saying the local carriers must employ more local pilots and the big banana at Orient Thai responding with "Thailand has no experienced aviators to supply the fast growing commercial market, he said"

So who is right. What/who should we expect to see at the controls in the near future Thai pilots, foreign pilots or some of those furry residents from LopBuri.

It is clear from the article that it must be hard to keep the balls in the air when the right hand does not know what the left (hand) is doing.

Oh, TIT

"It is clear from the article that it must be hard to keep the balls in the air"

Oh well, they always come down one way or other...

Yeah, also the term "time to adjust" used a few times in that article makes me nervous. It's like saying they need the next two years to train the other half of Thai pilots. It's not a comforting thought. Also, who do you trust - an industry CEO who has every interest to protect his assests and chooses to do so by arguing for hires based on skills and experience, or a Transport minister under the Thaksin administration decreeing that they must hire Thais?