The Transport Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) aim to have "red flags" issued by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) lifted for at least 16 airlines by the end of the year.
New procedures for air safety inspections were being sped up, along with the recertification of pilots and airlines so everything can be completed by December, Chartchai Tipsunave, permanent secretary for transport, said Wednesday.
He was speaking after a sub-committee met to track the progress of government efforts to address the aviation problem.
The ICAO issued a "red flag", indicating significant safety concerns, in June last year for Thailand's failure to meet its standards in regulating aviation businesses and granting air operator certificates within a 90-day deadline.
Initially, the ministry and the CAAT expected to seek recertification for all 28 airlines operating international flights, said Mr Chartchai. However, because some are a long way off from achieving the required safety standards and others have been suspended from operating, the target number for achieving recertification was cut to 16, he said.
As of now, at least seven airlines have submitted applications for recertification and their applications were being processed, he said.
The airlines are Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, NokScoot, Thai AirAsia, Thai Smile Airways and Orient Thai Airlines, he said.
The rest will submit applications soon, he added.
A UK firm, CAA International Limited, will help the CAAT examine and evaluate recertification applications, he said.
As for progress in the corrective action plan prepared to fix 33 significant aviation safety concerns identified by the ICAO, he said, the plan was now about 76.2% complete after undergoing a series of revisions and the government was confident work was on track.