Government says planes ready to evacuate Thai citizens from Israel

[webfact]

The Thai PM says 4 commercial aircraft are on stand by to evacuate Thai citizens from Israel. Srettha Thavisin says two planes each from Nok Air and AirAsia will operate repatriation flights once Israel gives the green light.

 

He was speaking after chairing a meeting of the Rapid Response Centre at the Foreign Affairs ministry, according to a Thai PBS World report. The PM says the government is also waiting to hear back from Thai Airways in relation to using one or more of their aircraft for the evacuation mission.

 

Srettha points out that special flights from Thailand to Israel must pass through the airspace of 4 different countries, therefore the Foreign Ministry must negotiate with each country in order to get permission to use their airspace. He says such talks will take at least 2 days.

 

By Peter Roche

PHOTO: Facebook/เศรษฐา ทวีสิน - Srettha Thavisin

 

Full story: PhuketGO 2023-10-14

 

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[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai PM says 4 commercial aircraft are on stand by to evacuate Thai citizens from Israel.

6,000 have stated a wish to come home.... that's going to take  a long time.

[retarius]

They've been ready for days, when are they actually going to get in the air, fly to Israel and bring our folks back home? This is taking longer to evacuate that Afghanistan, a by-word for incompetence. 

[Morch]

57 minutes ago, retarius said:

They've been ready for days, when are they actually going to get in the air, fly to Israel and bring our folks back home? This is taking longer to evacuate that Afghanistan, a by-word for incompetence. 

Indeed. All this energy their spending on preparing, announcing they're preparing, pointing fingers and making daft excuses could have fueled at least a couple of flights.

[Morch]

Other countries seem to manage things more efficiently. Apparently not many issues with military aircraft either:

 

Evacuations during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evacuations_during_the_2023_Israel–Hamas_war

[bamnutsak]

 

 

On 10/14/2023 at 3:12 AM, webfact said:

Srettha points out that special flights from Thailand to Israel must pass through the airspace of 4 different countries, therefore the Foreign Ministry must negotiate with each country in order to get permission to use their airspace. He says such talks will take at least 2 days.

 

More like nine countries...

 

Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by bamnutsak

[Morch]

33 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

 

 

 

More like nine countries...

 

Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus

 

 

 

El Al regularly flies the southern route - crossing over the Bay of Bengal, and from there to the Red sea and northwards. Takes a bit longer, that's all. Other countries seem to manage evacuation operations.

[bamnutsak]

11 minutes ago, Morch said:

El Al regularly flies the southern route

LY84 BKK-TLV yesterday...

 

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ly84#326dcfe6

 

 

The RTAF A340 (HS-TYV) is a military flight so this makes routing more challenging, when factoring in getting permissions with short notice. For a commercial flight it would be easier, more direct.

 

I infer that the 9-country route is necessary until they can negotiate the more direct four-country route?

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by bamnutsak

[riclag]

Sad situation for many innocent people!

 

War sucks

[Morch]

17 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

LY84 BKK-TLV yesterday...

 

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ly84#326dcfe6

 

 

The RTAF A340 (HS-TYV) is a military flight so this makes routing more challenging, when factoring in getting permissions with short notice. For a commercial flight it would be easier, more direct.

 

I infer that the 9-country route is necessary until they can negotiate the more direct four-country route?

 

 

 

 

Yes, I know (they got use of Saudi airspace just this year). Should have been 'flew', or 'used to fly'. The point was that they could use the older, longer route, thus not having to deal with that many countries.

 

I've no idea as to the 9 vs. 4 thing. My guess is that maybe they have better ties/agreements with some countries and thought it would expedite things. Another option is they are reluctant to fly over countries which might get involved in the fighting by the time the evacuation commenced.

[bamnutsak]

Khaosod English/FB

 

UPDATE: The Air Force said on Saturday after dispatching its first flight to Israel late last night it's looking for Thai Airways pilots who can fly Airbus A-340 to Tel Aviv to evacuate Thai workers. The Airforce said they don't have enough pilots to fly the plane and need commercial pilots to help to ensure adequate crew resting time as over 5,000 Thais stranded in Israel want to return home. 

 

I think the aircraft will be returning to UTP?

 

 

[herfiehandbag]

7 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

Khaosod English/FB

 

UPDATE: The Air Force said on Saturday after dispatching its first flight to Israel late last night it's looking for Thai Airways pilots who can fly Airbus A-340 to Tel Aviv to evacuate Thai workers. The Airforce said they don't have enough pilots to fly the plane and need commercial pilots to help to ensure adequate crew resting time as over 5,000 Thais stranded in Israel want to return home. 

 

I think the aircraft will be returning to UTP?

 

 

Umh, since Thai Airways A340s have been dumped ( sorry, I meant stored serviceable) for the last few years I doubt that there are any Thai International pilots current on the things!

[bamnutsak]

11 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

Umh, since Thai Airways A340s have been dumped ( sorry, I meant stored serviceable) for the last few years I doubt that there are any Thai International pilots current on the things!

The RTAF "bought" one A340/500 from TG for $50 million back in May 2016.

 

The RTAF has operated that aircraft as a VVIP service, it flew mainly between Germany and Thailand. So the RTAF has/d qualified pilots, just not enough for these increased service intervals to TLV.

 

I think they're fishing for potential pilots who could get re-qualified in short order?