Phuket Airlines Banned From Flying In France

[Darknight]

Phuket Air Banned From Flying In France

PARIS (29 aug 2005): The federal aviation authority of france published a list today of companies allowed to fly in France. This due to the recent fatal accidents all over the world due to bad maintenance.

Phuket airlines has been found unsafe by French authorities and is on the Banned list.

See the website here

http://www.dgac.fr/html/oservice/liste.htm

Here's the list

http://www.dgac.fr/html/oservice/Listeinte...ninterdites.pdf

[odowdchr]

Phuket Air Banned From Flying In France

PARIS (29 aug 2005): The federal aviation authority of france published a list today of companies allowed to fly in France. This due to the recent fatal accidents all over the world due to bad maintenance.

Phuket airlines has been found unsafe by French authorities and is on the Banned list.

See the website here

http://www.dgac.fr/html/oservice/liste.htm

Here's the list

http://www.dgac.fr/html/oservice/Listeinte...ninterdites.pdf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also on the BBC now. Belgium and Switzerland to follow suit in a few days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4194084.stm

[frenchFARANGbkk]

Phuket Air Banned From Flying In France

PARIS (29 aug 2005): The federal aviation authority of france published a list today of companies allowed to fly in France. This due to the recent fatal accidents all over the world due to bad maintenance.

Phuket airlines has been found unsafe by French authorities and is on the Banned list.

See the website here

http://www.dgac.fr/html/oservice/liste.htm

Here's the list

http://www.dgac.fr/html/oservice/Listeinte...ninterdites.pdf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Phuket was already banned fron Nederlands and England, but I didn't even know they were flying to Paris?!

Did they change the route after being banned from the 2 previous destinations?!

[george]

French ban new blow to Phuket Airlines

BANGKOK: -- Phuket Airlines yesterday faced yet another blow when France confirmed that the Thai carrier had been banned from its skies for safety reasons since June 4.

Phuket Airlines was one of six listed on the web site of the French civil aviation authority DGAC. The others were Air Koryo from North Korea, Air Saint-Thomas from the United States, International Air Service from Liberia, Linhas A?reas de Mocambique (LAM) and an affiliate, Transairways.

The ban on Phuket Airlines has been in place since June 4 of this year. The Air Koryo sanctions date back to April 2001 while the others were imposed last year.

Britain and the Netherlands banned Phuket Airlines in April following an incident involving a London-bound Boeing 747-200 preparing for takeoff from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

The Thai carrier has been trying to turn around its business by reducing its workforce from 900 employees to 600 employees by next April and strengthen expertise among the remaining staff.

The French civil aviation authority said its bans were published in response to a series of recent crashes including one in Venezuela on Aug 16 that killed 160 people, most of them French tourists.

French Transport Minister Dominique Perben also promised that safety checks would be stepped up on aircraft making stopovers in French airports and on airlines applying for French landing rights.

The European Commission welcomed the move, noting that it has been promoting a uniform standard for all 25 European Union members. Members are now debating the exact criteria for "naming and shaming".

Chawanit Chiamcharoenvut, executive vice-president of Phuket Airlines, said at a press conference in Bangkok yesterday that the ban had little effect on Phuket Airlines as it no longer operated in Europe.

In May, the UK Department for Transport suspended the permits of Phuket Airlines and seven others due to safety concerns, one month after it was banned from flying to the Netherlands.

Capt Chawanit said that the French civil aviation authority might have used the old information from the UK and the Netherlands in imposing the ban.

Capt Chawanit also noted that the French and other aviation regulators had never audited the safety standards of the airlines before imposing bans. "We will send a letter to seek their explanations."

He said the airline's only international service now was the Bangkok-Rangoon route. Its operation in South Korea has been suspended after it 747-300 jumbo jet was impounded at the Incheon International Airport over a legal dispute with a local sales agent for weeks.

Locally, the carrier provides three routes: Bangkok-Ranong, Bangkok-Buri Ram, and Bangkok-Mae Sot. The airline now has 16 aircraft: five each of 747-300s and YS-11s and three each of 747-200s and 737-200s.

--Bangkok Post/Agencies 2005-08-30

[meelousee]

When you have a discount airline trying to do just in time maintenance there are bound to be problems. Phuket Airlines and many others have destinations that are classed as "walk around" check only, which means unless critical problems prevent the aircraft from departing they do it just in time for the next flight, they will fix a flat tire

They put off maintenance until it reaches home base where they have a full time maintenance crew. Saves bundles of money yes, but also can prove to be extremely dangerous.

Budget airlines to me means they don’t have a budget to do it right.

And if you can’t do it right the first time in this business you might not get a chance to do it over.

[Scott]

Why do they ban an airline that doesn't fly to their country? Shouldn't the ban be imposed if they apply to fly/land there instead?

[ovenman]

Does this ban also cover flying through French airspace?

[george]

Phuket Gazette update:

Phuket Air banned by France

PARIS: -- Problem-plagued Phuket Air hit another hurdle this week when it was revealed that it has been banned from flying into France since June 4 on safety grounds. The Bangkok-based carrier has already been barred from British and Dutch airspace.

The French civil aviation authority (Délégation Générale de l’Aviation Civile – DGAC) website included Phuket Airlines in a list of six international carriers that have been prevented from flying into France for the past three months. The news was published on August 29.

Reacting to this latest setback, the management of Phuket Airlines Co, the parent company in Bangkok, questioned the DGAC decision.

“We really don’t understand what is the meaning of ‘unsafe’,” Capt Chawanit Chiamcharoenvut, the carrier’s Executive Vice President, told journalists.

“Unsafe for operations or unsafe for what? Because we have never had a serious incident or accident, so I would like to ask the [French] authorities: what is the meaning of unsafe?”

He said the company is now working with Boeing, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to improve safety through pilot and personnel training.

Capt Chawanit admitted that the French ban will probably have “some impact” on Phuket Air’s image, although he said operations will not be directly affected because the company has not operated to Europe since April and does it intend to reintroduce European flights.

The only international routes currently flown by Phuket Air are chartered flights to Myanmar and Japan. “Those flights don’t have any problem,” Capt Chawanit said August 29.

France decided to publish the names of airlines banned for safety reasons after the August 16 crash in Venezuela of a West Caribbean Airways plane that killed all 160 people on board, including 152 French tourists.

“The airlines on the blacklist cannot operate flights in any French airport,” Maxime Coffin, head of security checks at DGAC, told a news conference in Paris. “Its publication is a warning to other airlines: if they are not rigorous enough, they could find themselves on the list.”

It has not been a good year for Phuket Air. One of the company’s Boeing 747s has been impounded at Incheon Airport in South Korea twice since August 10, the first time for non-payment of maintenance and other service fees and then again on August 23 in a legal dispute with its local sales agent.

In April, a Phuket Air 747 was prevented from leaving Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates after passengers saw fuel pouring from a wing.

Later, a Bangkok-bound flight had to return to London after developing hydraulics problems, and the airline was banned from flying into the UK and the Netherlands after safety inspectors found “serious” faults on aircraft. A Phuket Air plane was also impounded at London’s Gatwick Airport for non-payment of landing fees.

The company then canceled its Bangkok-Bali route, saying that passenger numbers had slumped because the Dutch ban had robbed its Bali service of “feeder” flights.

Since the beginning of August, Phuket Airlines has also owed to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Biman Airlines several hundred thousand taka, the Bangladeshi currency, in taxes, landing charges, and equipment rental fees incurred at Chittagong Airport.

--Phuket Gazette 2005-08-30

[Morbius]

Why do they ban an airline that doesn't fly to their country?  Shouldn't the ban be imposed if they apply to fly/land there instead?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If an airline is in the French black list, it means that, at some time, it has applied for flying to France, and this application has been rejected.

Does this ban also cover flying through French airspace?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes

For more info: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43380

[PETERTHEEATER]

The incident with Phuket Air (PA) at Sharjah (UAE) previously mentioned concerned a 747-200 which was found low on hydraulic fluid post flight. Athough it's unclear what the reason was, PA decided to fly in a replacement aircraft (another 747-200) and put the pax up in local hotels until it arrived. During pushback (engines not running) a passenger reported fuel coming from the wings . The plane was repositioned and excess fuel pumped out. After declaring the aircraft serviceable it was again pushed back and again fuel vented from the wings. At this point a passenger screamed FIRE even though there was none. The plane was relocated and the passengers left the aircraft.

Subsequently about half the pax reboarded but the remainder refused. Here's a statement from PA:

Gordon MacFarland, Phuket Air’s UK sales manager, said that the replacement aircraft had been fixed within two hours but there was a further delay of several hours while the crew persuaded everyone that it was safe to board. “I have been informed by one passenger that the delay to the original flight was caused by a group of typical drunken Brits. About a hundred people opted to stay on in Sharjah for another night by their own choice.

You pays your money and you takes your choice!

Phuket Gazette update:

Phuket Air banned by France

PARIS: -- Problem-plagued Phuket Air hit another hurdle this week when it was revealed that it has been banned from flying into France since June 4 on safety grounds. The Bangkok-based carrier has already been barred from British and Dutch airspace.

The French civil aviation authority (Délégation Générale de l’Aviation Civile – DGAC) website included Phuket Airlines in a list of six international carriers that have been prevented from flying into France for the past three months. The news was published on August 29.

Reacting to this latest setback, the management of Phuket Airlines Co, the parent company in Bangkok, questioned the DGAC decision.

“We really don’t understand what is the meaning of ‘unsafe’,” Capt Chawanit Chiamcharoenvut, the carrier’s Executive Vice President, told journalists.

“Unsafe for operations or unsafe for what? Because we have never had a serious incident or accident, so I would like to ask the [French] authorities: what is the meaning of unsafe?”

He said the company is now working with Boeing, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to improve safety through pilot and personnel training.

Capt Chawanit admitted that the French ban will probably have “some impact” on Phuket Air’s image, although he said operations will not be directly affected because the company has not operated to Europe since April and does it intend to reintroduce European flights.

The only international routes currently flown by Phuket Air are chartered flights to Myanmar and Japan. “Those flights don’t have any problem,” Capt Chawanit said August 29.

France decided to publish the names of airlines banned for safety reasons after the August 16 crash in Venezuela of a West Caribbean Airways plane that killed all 160 people on board, including 152 French tourists.

“The airlines on the blacklist cannot operate flights in any French airport,” Maxime Coffin, head of security checks at DGAC, told a news conference in Paris. “Its publication is a warning to other airlines: if they are not rigorous enough, they could find themselves on the list.”

It has not been a good year for Phuket Air. One of the company’s Boeing 747s has been impounded at Incheon Airport in South Korea twice since August 10, the first time for non-payment of maintenance and other service fees and then again on August 23 in a legal dispute with its local sales agent.

In April, a Phuket Air 747 was prevented from leaving Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates after passengers saw fuel pouring from a wing.

Later, a Bangkok-bound flight had to return to London after developing hydraulics problems, and the airline was banned from flying into the UK and the Netherlands after safety inspectors found “serious” faults on aircraft. A Phuket Air plane was also impounded at London’s Gatwick Airport for non-payment of landing fees.

The company then canceled its Bangkok-Bali route, saying that passenger numbers had slumped because the Dutch ban had robbed its Bali service of “feeder” flights.

Since the beginning of August, Phuket Airlines has also owed to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Biman Airlines several hundred thousand taka, the Bangladeshi currency, in taxes, landing charges, and equipment rental fees incurred at Chittagong Airport.

--Phuket Gazette 2005-08-30

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