Japan and Thailand Sign a Deal to Continue Chartered Flights

[Jacob Maslow]

Japan and Thailand have signed an agreement to continue chartered flights through May. The memorandum of understanding was signed on Thursday after the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and the Thai Department of Civil Aviation were able to come to agreement on the details.

Initially, Japan made the decision to prohibit Thai carriers from increasing destinations and flights, or changing aircraft types. Japan’s decision followed a safety concerns notice from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). Japan had planned to implement these restrictions at the start of April in the midst of one of the busiest traveling times in Japan and Thailand.

Under the agreement, Thai airlines may continue chartered flights to Japan from April 11 through May 31 under the stipulation that the carriers continue using the same aircraft types and the same routes.

The initial resumption date of April 2 was pushed back to April 11 because the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau wanted to see the Department of Civil Aviation’s corrective plan. This same plan will be proposed to the ICAO and sent to the Japan

Civil Aviation Bureau by April 6.

The Department of Civil Aviation was given 90-days to improve its air transport certification to meet ICAO’s standards. Otherwise, Thai carriers cannot operate in countries that are ICAO members.

-- 2015-04-03

[chainarong]

From what I can gather the problem lies with the Thai Government and Thai Department of Aviation, they failed an international audit , yes the Government department responsible for the Thai Airline industry failed its 2 yearly audit, that means carriers that are not members of IATA can be suspect of not carrying out proper procedures in accordance to manufacturer's specs , also certification to air worthiness is suspect, they also don't do IATA audits , Thai international is not involved as it is a member of IATA and has just completed and passed an audit , so why it is being mentioned in the media , one cannot say., but for health reasons I would give all the rest not members of IATA a miss. You go to the IATA web site to check who is a member.

[LuckyLew]

Will be interesting to see if Thais take this opportunity to improve all standards, my guess is they will not and we will be hearing about this same issue shortly