Thailand is home to 4 of the worst airlines for safety in the world

[thesetat2013]

I am only taking minivans from now on.

Are you sure that is wise? Given the crazies they have as drivers it may be safer to hitchhike

[lostmebike]

The star ratings of these 5 mentioned Thai airlines does surprise me somewhat. If I had to predict beforehand, based on my experience flying them all numerous times, I would have gone with;

Orient Thai: 1star

Nok Air: 2stars

AirAsia: 3 stars

Thai Air: 4stars

Bangkok Air: 4+stars

What might have skewed the results is the difference between long haul fligh and only short haul flight airlines. Short haul airlines are generally a lot more dangerous due to the inherent risk of take of and landing and use of smaller (prop) planes.

Anyway, still plenty work to do for all Thai airlines!

Now one-two-go is buried in the structure of Orient Thai. It's somewhat scandalous that they are still in business at all after the scathing comments by the British coroner over the Phuket crash. Maybe that was of scant concern to the travelling public but I wouldn't ever get on one of their planes.

I remember some Thai friends labeling one2go as 'One to die'.

[ratcatcher]

Every cloud.......?

This rating qualifies as the Joke of the century for naming Quantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Air services is what the name stands for) as the 7-star airline.

Nothing wrong with Quantas but as an aviation maintenance engineer and transport pilot with more than 10,000 hours flying I happen to know a few things about Quantas, I may give them 7-stars, but I defenitely would not name it in my listing to show the reading public what a 7-star airline comprises of..

Anybody with a little knowledge about airlines knows that it takes a lot to beat Singapore Airlines. Yes, they're not the cheapest in price, but as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for".

This listing is also invalid because it lops the long-haul and the short haul carriers in the same pot, as a pilot having flown both I like you to know that there is a fast difference between the two.

That's QANTAS.....check it....it's written on the side of their planes.

What would we do without U?

[ableguy]

I am only taking minivans from now on.

I take 4 pints of beer before take off.........

A parachute would be better.

[ableguy]

I think it's to much bad mouthing of the Thai Airlines. I'm a very experienced traveler, flown around the world since 1975 for work and even worked as a purser on a Scandinavian airline in the late 70's.

Have flown on all these airlines and felt safe, use to fly Thai Airways 4-5 times a year during the years when they had the direct flight JFK-BKK and still miss their service. The only carrier I'm somewhat hesitate to travel with is Orient Thai since they are using old 747 and they are painted so you see the old airlines logo thru the paint so I'm not sure if the aircraft is gone thru before the paint job. (I agree the statement sounds crazy). Nok air and air Asia Thailand I have been on and don't have any problem. Bangkok Air and Cathay pacific have code share so I feel ok with them also.

One of the reason that they have 3 stars is that they are banned from Europe if that ban was lifted they would probably get one more star. And I don't see that these airlines have had a high volume of crashes consider their schedule with many short flights, they have a lot of take off and landings and many with small aircrafts. Don't know if you guys follow the incident reports for airlines world wide if you do you will then see that US airlines have had a lot of small incidents that can be traced to maintenance problems and even European airlines that have more stars have had issues like that.

So just bash these airlines because they are Thai it's in my opinion wrong. But when reading this blog most posters have negative comments to everything in Thailand from the new Chang Beer to the people.

The fact that you feel safe on a particular airline does not mean a thing.

[No1]

I see Lion Air is operating in Thailand - are they not banned in Europe ?

It is Thai Lion Mentari Co. Ltd which is operating in Thailand and has a fleet of 17 nearly brandnew A320s. A significant difference to their Indonesian mother company.

[uptheos]

I am only taking minivans from now on.

I take 4 pints of beer before take off.........

You're not allowed to take that much liquid on a plane

[Jim walker]

AirlineRatings.com dont they realise who they are dealing with Thailand is not run by some half humpty civilian government but a few military generals with super intellect who can turn their hands to anything and as soon as the dangerous roads are sorted out and no more death occurs on the roads they will be right on to the mater of air safety and any problems incurred by any Thailand operated air company will be sorted out, and if the committee of AirlineRatings.com dont watch their attitude towards the wonderful peoples Junta of Thailand a few more international military court arrest warrants will be issued for bad mouthing the Thai military

[mango66]

hey dont say anything about Khan Air ,

have they got 8 stars ??

[cyberfarang]

I didn't know that Nok Air had a bad safety record. Any insight as to why they only get 2 stars?

.

[cream]

I can see Thailand prosecuting and suing AirlineRatings.com for defamation.

Why can't these meddling foreigners and the rest of the world understand,

only Govt and TATs figures are true.

[Jdiddy]

NOK air is my preferred airline for domestic travel, i obviously rate airlines differently

[Norvid 1950]

Airlines not safe. Trains derailing. Roads are the real killers. What shall be next? Does Thais have a sense of responsibility?

[biplanebluey]

On my first ever visit to Thailand in 1999, our company had a retired US Army colonel on retainer as our local agent. At that time he had lived in Thailand about 23 years.

He went on and on and on one night about how bad THAI airlines was.

Thanks for that----- very informative

[ezzra]

And Thai wisdom says : AirlineRatings.com is NOT our father.....

[kiwikeith]

I see Lion Air is operating in Thailand - are they not banned in Europe ?

I flew them a few weeks ago from chiang mai to BK and it was going threw my head about their safety rating, the plane seemed to be brand new boeing,it was packed with chinese and no frills.

I wonder what their safety rating is as not mentioned???

[kiwikeith]

I see Lion Air is operating in Thailand - are they not banned in Europe ?

I flew them a few weeks ago from chiang mai to BK and it was going threw my head about their safety rating, the plane seemed to be brand new boeing,it was packed with chinese and no frills.

I wonder what their safety rating is as not mentioned???

Just googled and safety rating appears to be 1 Star and airline is banned in UK .

[Lung Mike]

The star ratings of these 5 mentioned Thai airlines does surprise me somewhat. If I had to predict beforehand, based on my experience flying them all numerous times, I would have gone with;

Orient Thai: 1star

Nok Air: 2stars

AirAsia: 3 stars

Thai Air: 4stars

Bangkok Air: 4+stars

What might have skewed the results is the difference between long haul fligh and only short haul flight airlines. Short haul airlines are generally a lot more dangerous due to the inherent risk of take of and landing and use of smaller (prop) planes.

Anyway, still plenty work to do for all Thai airlines!

You might have forgotten about the numerous deadly accidents with Bangkok Airways. I do remember seeing a burnt-out wreck sitting at the Koh Samui airport many years ago and the wreck of the plane that hit the control tower.

[asiaexpat]

This rating system demonstrates the importance of good governmental oversight (DCA) of airlines, which Thailand has been deemed inadequate. The low star rating is due mainly to the lack of DCA ability to ensure safety. Rating stars for:

1. IATA audited -2 stars gained (only Thai International is)

2. No fatal accidents for 10 years - 1 star gained

3. EU blacklist- 1star gained if not on EU balcklist

4. FAA issues - 1 star gained if none (Thailand losses here due to level 2 rating)

5. ICAO standards compliance= 2 stars gained (Thailand lost these stars due to DCA problems.)

6. No groundings by DCA- gain 1 star

DCA is the rating problem for these airlines that may well be very safe in actuality.

[The Deerhunter]

The prevailing attitude to safety is to blame. If you are fated to die on a certain day, nothing will prevent it. If you are not fated to die on that day,stop worrying because you cannot die that day. So,do not consult airline safety stats, consult a fortune teller to find if it is a safe day to travel or not. Sri Lanka is the same but more so.

[F4UCorsair]

Every cloud.......?

This rating qualifies as the Joke of the century for naming Quantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Air services is what the name stands for) as the 7-star airline.

Nothing wrong with Quantas but as an aviation maintenance engineer and transport pilot with more than 10,000 hours flying I happen to know a few things about Quantas, I may give them 7-stars, but I defenitely would not name it in my listing to show the reading public what a 7-star airline comprises of..

Anybody with a little knowledge about airlines knows that it takes a lot to beat Singapore Airlines. Yes, they're not the cheapest in price, but as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for".

This listing is also invalid because it lops the long-haul and the short haul carriers in the same pot, as a pilot having flown both I like you to know that there is a fast difference between the two.

That's QANTAS.....check it....it's written on the side of their planes.

I seriously doubt that a supposed airline pilot who can't spell QANTAS correctly, is in fact an airline pilot.

Are you suggesting you've flown as a pilot with both arms of QANTAS? Or as a passenger? If as a pax, as I suspect, you would be unable to detect a difference in any thing but cabin service, and this is a safrty rating!

I contend there is NO difference in any of the standards between QF domestic and QF international......NOT ONE BIT!

Edited January 17, 2016 by F4UCorsair

[jaiyen]

I see Lion Air is operating in Thailand - are they not banned in Europe ?

Lion Air Thailand is a completely separate operation from the Inernational company and has brand new 737-900 ER planes. My friend is a pilot and is very happy with the operation. I fly with them and love it. Good prices too.

[jaiyen]

I see Lion Air is operating in Thailand - are they not banned in Europe ?

I flew them a few weeks ago from chiang mai to BK and it was going threw my head about their safety rating, the plane seemed to be brand new boeing,it was packed with chinese and no frills.

I wonder what their safety rating is as not mentioned???

Just googled and safety rating appears to be 1 Star and airline is banned in UK .

Lion Air Thailand has not been operating very long and has never had a problem so it doesnt have a safety rating. You are looking at Lion Air from another country, probably Indonesia. Lion Air Thailand does not fly internationally.

[johnno2]

Who is airlineratings dot com ???

Bit of research will lead to "Geoffrey Thomas" an Australian, clearly this is is more about Qantas and the metrics formulated to promote Qantas to the top of the list, sure the Americans could come up with another list that would put an airlines using mainly boeing aircraft at the top, not saying Qantas is not best, just depends where you put the goal posts.

I do agree Thailand needs to improve on Air Safety, but would travel any day with a Thai airline in preference to an Indonesian airline.

woah, australian conspiracy theory. i don't fly qantas, not because of safety, but because of bad service.

here's another airline rating system. i use this one because the ratings are done by your fellow travellers.........http://www.airlinequality.com/review-pages/a-z-airline-reviews/

[Lingba]

HaHA HA HA HA HA HA

[CNXBKKMAN]

Almost unbelievable that Orient Thai scores any stars let alone 3 and rated higher than Nok Air.

[thaiman]

"These ratings come in the wake of the US downgrading the Thai aviation industry to category 2 at the end of 2015,"

Is it a coincidence for the US to downgrade Thai companies at the same time the junta takes power? What else did the US downgrade? Oh yah, the Thai human trafficking record. Looks all too convenient to me.

[NovaBlue05]

"These ratings come in the wake of the US downgrading the Thai aviation industry to category 2 at the end of 2015,"

Is it a coincidence for the US to downgrade Thai companies at the same time the junta takes power? What else did the US downgrade? Oh yah, the Thai human trafficking record. Looks all too convenient to me.

Do you think the US was out of line on either point and was the US alone in those assessments?

[geriatrickid]

I didn't know that Nok Air had a bad safety record. Any insight as to why they only get 2 stars?

Good question. It is in part a subjective rating. Thai Airways provides staff training and maintenance.

IOSA - No

EU Allowed - Yes

Fatality Free - Yes

FAA Endorsed - No

ICAO - No rating because of Operations concerned. Thailand was being given time to address.

Country Audit Safety Rating - 2

NOK flies out of the airports which have the most serious safety concerns. The fact that the airline doesn't fly into the EU or North America means that there is no 3rd party safety audit.

Interesting that Thai Airways gets a 4 star rating. I was on a Thai Smile flight last week. I seriously regretted my travel decision. I feel safer on NOK.

[geriatrickid]

"These ratings come in the wake of the US downgrading the Thai aviation industry to category 2 at the end of 2015,"

Is it a coincidence for the US to downgrade Thai companies at the same time the junta takes power? What else did the US downgrade? Oh yah, the Thai human trafficking record. Looks all too convenient to me.

Ignorant comment. ICAO lambasted the Thai air safety system. The EU was the first to raise concerns.

Try again.