Japan's chartered flight ban from Thailand is hurting tourism business

[Skywalker69]

The Orient Thai incident won´t make things better. Som nam na.

[smedly]

Warned in 2005, and only now they must improve safety and urgently! Unbelievable.

because the country has been terrorised for most of that time by a deposed criminal ex shamed pm who's only interest has been to pay for movement of terrorists to create turmoil and unrest in Thailand while he seeks amnesty or destroys Thailand in the process, airline safety was likely never discussed

IMO Thailand has been ungoverned for many years under the guise of democracy in word only, it is now currently seeing some governance and people who milked the system before are now seeing the writing on the wall were their corrupt practises will no longer be tolerated

some might say that the current administration are being heavy handed - I think the opposite considering the task they have in front of them with limited time to complete - there can be no room for interruptions and deflections from those who seek to destroy it, the bottom line is that Thailand needs to have faith in what is going on as there are no alternatives - polls suggest that most Thais are happy and any I have spoken to think the same and now see Khun Thaksin for what he really is

[BusyB]

Do you think more attention is paid to Thai's fleet than the other operators?

For my part I suspect they may have better access to resources.

The question though in light of the ICAO warning is what and who, and of what standards, those resources are. This is not about individual airlines. It affects the entire sector regardless of your privileged position.

Which shows why neglect, corruption and incompetence doesn't even pay off for the "elites", who initially benefit from it all, in the long term.

[BusyB]

What about Thai (the airline) are they safe? Or is it just the smaller airlines?

It's not about individual airlines or even airplanes/flights. It's about the environment in which they operate, and how they are administered and supervised. It’s about any outfit governed by and operating in the Thai airline industry, including airport and navigational facilities.

To quote Geriatrickid:

“It isn't just oversight. The issue relates to airports, ATC, training, verification of qualifications, standards and surveillance.”

What has happened is that through negligence, corruption and incompetence, everyone involved, including the airlines who’ve gone along with it, have stacked the cards towards a serious incident. The aviation administration and operational environment is/is becoming crazily tilted towards a nasty accident. Hence the ICAO stance.

I’m ex airline staff, had a private license, aviation was my life for many years. It is still my big love. I have no fears of flying, and feel more comfortable in a microlite at 5 thousand feet than I do on the ground. I feel really at home up there. But only when everything’s adequately regulated and overseen. You see no matter how safe it's become, flying will always remain a calculated risk. I’m sure you can understand why. And the Thai aviation environment now is/is rapidly becoming extremely high risk. Just as frightening is how they are (totally inadequately) addressing the issue.

So while I’m still prepared to risk a Lufthansa Group plane into BKK for the last 45 minutes of the flight and back out again, I’m no longer prepared to assume the level of risk involved in placing myself onto any Thai airliner for any length of time. I now no longer know if the pilots are even adequately qualified! If maintenance has been adequately administered. Or how much tea money was paid to see some hiso scion given the green light after failing his sim. ICAO has warned me.

Think for a moment: if someone like the Germanwings co can slip through LH’s formidable administrative, training and operational machinery, in such a tightly regulated environment as the EU, just imagine what creepy crawlies might lurk in the crannies and bowels of the Thai environment and organizations. ICAO isn’t a nationally biased organization. It’s an intergovernmental UN organization whose sole bias is safety and communication.

I shan’t be flying any Thai airlines until their open invitation to an accident is completely withdrawn – and I used to frequently fly THAI, both domestically and to Europe. I was looking forward to flying Bangkok Airways to Vientiane on my next visit. I’ll take the train instead.

Great post and very informative and agree entirely although it has to be said that Thailand is not alone when it comes to standards or lack of them, anyway the only folly I see in your post are the last 5 words, there is no method of transport that is safe in Thailand train plane bus minivan take your pick, you can lessen the danger by driving yourself but not everyone can do that, when it comes down to it - it is all about the money and how that allocated budget finds its way to all the wrong places

Oh no, it's not folly.

It's my self-determined calculation as to what level of risk I'm prepared to accept to get from A to B. I won't use long distance or overnight busses either. I never risk minivans - although arguably one may hit the taxi or train I'm travelling in. And I only use motocys when unavoidable. Songtaews on the other hand are great fun if you're willing to risk hanging on like in army days - which I am.

In fact the train is relatively placid and has a low level of mortality/injury in accidents because of the low speeds and solid antique carriages. I also think I have a higher chance of clambering out of a derailed train in one piece, than a crashed aircraft. There's also less fuel. And a train can always simply stop if there's an urgent problem.

In the end anything you do's a calculated risk. Anywhere. 3.368 people died on German roads last year as well. Pretty miniscule with all those Beamers, Mercs and Porsches when you think about it.

Surprises me I've not heard of any pedestrian deaths on Petchkasem in Hua Hin though. Maybe only the fit and lucky risk it or it doesn't get reported. God help you if you trip and fall there .

Edited March 31, 2015 by BusyB

[maidee]

500.000 thais planned to visit thailand?

so many rich people

and i always wonder, tokyo is only 500 km away from fukusima

ignorance is a bless, right ?