The Transport Ministry may ground substandard airlines to increase the chance of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) supporting the service continuation of standard ones, pending corrective actions by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA).
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Monday that he ordered Transport Minister Prajin Juntong to do so to restore the ICAO's confidence and to show that Thai authorities were serious about air transport safety.
He admitted the ICAO understandably had doubts about Thailand's airline certification standards because the DCA's workforce was too small to handle a large number of Thai-registered airlines.
"We have not expanded this part (the DCA) but the number of airlines has increased and this triggered safety concerns... I told Gen Prajin to find out which airlines had failed to do it right. Their flights will be suspended and we can regain some confidence from the ICAO. We must comply with laws," Gen Prayut said.
DCA director-general Somchai Phiphutthawat said on Monday the ICAO would announce its reaction to the corrective action plan of the DCA on its website on June 18. It involves the ICAO's two main concerns — the DCA's standards of issuing airlines' certificates and hazardous goods transport licences.
Regarding the deadline, the DCA must send its corrective action plan to the ICAO 1-2 weeks before that date, he said.
"Although we can correct the part concerning hazardous-goods transport licensing ahead of schedule, the ICAO will not accept piecemeal solutions... Whether a country will ban Thai flights will depend on its government. Now, only Japan and South Korea are stringent about Thai-registered chartered airlines," Mr Somchai said.
Voradej Harnprasert, deputy permanent secretary for transport, said on Monday that the DCA had only nine officials to review airlines' certificates. Even after a quick recruitment to bring the workforce to about 40, the inspection, which covers 28 airlines with international services and 13 with domestic flights, should be completed by July, a month after the ICAO's deadline.
He hopes the corrective action plan would convince the ICAO to postpone the announcement of its reaction.
Transport Minister Prajin said the delay of the DCA's certificate review would affect flights to Japan, South Korea and China and his ministry would consider measures to lessen the blows.
