New aviation legislation will authorise the Civil Aviation Board (CAB), instead of solely the transport minister, to approve Air Operating Licences (AOLs) to ensure tough airline screenings, according to Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) director Chula Sukmanop.
Mr Chula said officials are in the process of drafting the air navigation bill, which includes the approval of AOLs.
Based on the existing act, only the transport minister is authorised to approve AOLs as the law is concerned that airline operations carry security implications.
The new bill says licence approvals require the consent of the CAB, chaired by the transport minister, Mr Chula said, adding it was an outdated practice to allow the minister to approve the AOLs alone.
Efforts are being made to implement the act before Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha leaves office, he added.
CAB members represent various sectors and are appointed to the board by the transport minister.
Mr Chula insisted the CAB's work will not duplicate tasks carried out by the CAAT's board as the latter would only guide CAAT policy.
"In the future, it would be harder for people who want to run the airline business," said Mr Chula.
"In the past, only one person was able to approve the AOLs, which we found were actually resold to others. The country has faced this problem for a long time.
From now on, procedures will be in place to screen those who are really ready to run airlines."
He said authorities have summoned and warned several airline operators and two operators have had their AOLs suspended.
The process of issuing the AOLs would be more intense now as authorities prefer airlines in good financial standing.
Meanwhile, a ministerial regulation involving criteria used to approve AOLs and the formation of a panel screening those to be awarded the licences would be implemented this month, Mr Chula said.